THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

DAVIS 


WITH  THE  FATHERS 

STUDIES   IN   THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   UNITED  STATES 


Hxnos 


THE   "GEEEYMANDEE." 
From  original  handbill,  1813. 


WITH    THE    FATHERS 


STUDIES  IN  THE   HISTORY  OF 
THE   UNITED  STATES 


BY 

JOHN   BACH   McMASTER 

PROFESSOR  OF  AMERICAN  HISTORY  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 
AUTHOR  OF  A  HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


NEW     YORK 

D.    APPLETON    AND     COMPANY 
1896 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


COPYRIGHT,  1896, 
BY  D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY. 


TO 
GERTRUDE  STEVENSON  McMASTER. 


83583 


PREFACE. 


OF  the  essays  collected  in  this  little  volume,  "  The 
Political  Depravity  of  the  Fathers  "  and  "  Franklin  in 
France  "  were  written  for  the  Atlantic  Monthly  ;  "  The 
Framers  and  the  framing  of  the  Constitution  "  and 
"  A  Century  of  Constitutional  Interpretation "  were 
contributed  to  the  Century  Magazine  ;  "  Washington's 
Inauguration  "  to  Harper's  Magazine  ;  "  The  Third- 
Term  Tradition,"  "  The  Eiotous  Career  of  the  Know- 
Nothings,"  "A  Century's  Struggle  for  Silver,"  and 
"  Is  Sound  Finance  Possible  under  Popular  Govern 
ment?"  to  the  Forum.  My  thanks  are  due,  there 
fore,  to  Messrs.  Harper  &  Brothers,  and  to  the  editors 
of  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  the  Century  Magazine,  and 
the  Forum  for  their  permission  to  reprint  these  essays. 

The  gist  of  "  The  Monroe  Doctrine  "  was  contrib 
uted  to  the  New  York  Times.  "  How  the  British  left 
New  York"  was  first  published  in  the  New  York 
Press.  To  both  of  these  journals  an  acknowledgment 
of  my  indebtedness  is  made. 

JOHN  BACH  McMASTEB. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  PENNSYLVANIA, 
March,  1896. 


vn 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE 1 

THE  THIRD-TERM   TRADITION          .  .  .  .  .  .55 

THE  POLITICAL  DEPRAVITY  OF  THE  FATHERS    ....  71 

THE  RIOTOUS  CAREER  OF  THE  KNOW-NOTHINGS        ...  87 

THE  FRAMERS  AND  THE  FRAMING  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION  .       .  107 

WASHINGTON'S  INAUGURATION 150 

A  CENTURY  OF  CONSTITUTIONAL  INTERPRETATION      .       .        .  182 

A  CENTURY'S  STRUGGLE  FOR  SILVER 222 

IS  SOUND  FINANCE  POSSIBLE  UNDER  POPULAR  GOVERNMENT?    .  237 

FRANKLIN  IN  FRANCE 253 

How  THE  BRITISH  LEFT  NEW  YORK 271 

THE   STRUGGLE   FOR   TERRITORY 281 

FOUR  CENTURIES  OF   PROGRESS 313 

ix 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE. 

IN  the  course  of  the  discussion  of  the  Monroe  Doc 
trine  provoked  by  the  recent  letter  of  Lord  Salisbury 
and  the  message  of  President  Cleveland,  there  have 
been  developed  three  views  now  very  current  among 
our  countrymen.  Some  agree  with  the  statements  of 
the  noble  lord  in  his  letter,  and,  without  giving  much 
thought  to  the  matter,  declare  that  the  doctrine  per 
ished  with  the  occasion  that  called  it  forth.  Some 
admit  that  it  still  exists,  but  incline  to  the  belief  that  it 
should  not  apply  to  a  territorial  project  that  does  not 
involve  colonization  or  the  erection  of  a  monarchy 
where  a  republic  once  stood.  Others  have  no  hesita 
tion  in  declaring  that  what  goes  on  in  Venezuela  is  of 
no  consequence  to  us,  and  that  the  matter  at  stake  is 
not  of  enough  importance  to  make  it  worth  while  to 
risk  a  war. 

As  the  crisis  is  certainly  a  serious  one,  an  examina 
tion  of  these  views  is  not  untimely.  The  hour  has  come 
for  the  people  of  the  United  States  to  decide  once  for 
all  whether  there  is  or  is  not  a  Monroe  Doctrine.  If 
there  is,  it  should  be  stated  as  clearly  and  precisely  as 
possible.  If  there  is  not,  then  it  becomes  us  to  say  so 
frankly  and  at  once. 

The  doctrine  was  originally  announced  by  James 
Monroe  in  a  message  to  Congress  on  December  second, 

1 


2  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

1823,  and  was  made  necessary  by  certain  things  done 
by  Russia  and  the  Holy  Allies.  Russia  still  exists. 
But  who  the  Holy  Allies  were,  and  what  they  did 
that  so  alarmed  Monroe,  requires  a  little  explanation. 

As  all  the  world  knows,  the  defeat  of  the  French  at 
Waterloo  was  followed  by  a  second  abdication  of  Na 
poleon,  by  a  second  restoration  of  Louis  XVIII  to  the 
throne  of  France,  and  by  a  gathering  of  the  allied 
kings  or  their  ministers  at  Paris  in  the  autumn  of  1815. 
Their  renewed  triumph  over  the  Man  of  Destiny  was, 
to  the  mind  of  one  of  them,  another  signal  instance  of 
the  workings  of  Providence,  another  manifestation  of 
the  truth  that  God  in  his  own  good  time  will  raise  up 
those  who  put  their  trust  in  him,  and  will  confound  the 
policy  of  the  wicked.  So  deeply  did  this  truth  impress 
Alexander,  Emperor  of  Russia,  that  he  then  and  there 
determined  to  rule  henceforth,  and,  if  possible,  persuade 
his  f ellow-monarchs  to  rule  in  strict  accordance  with 
the  principles  of  the  Christian  religion.  To  accomplish 
this  end  the  more  easily,  he  persuaded  Frederick  Wil 
liam,  King  of  Prussia,  and  Francis,  Emperor  of  Aus 
tria,  to  join  with  him  in  a  league  which  he  called  the 
Holy  Alliance,  and  to  sign  a  treaty  which  is  commonly 
supposed  to  have  bound  the  allies  to  pull  down  consti 
tutional  government  and  stamp  out  liberal  ideas.  It 
did  nothing  of  the  sort.  It  was,  in  truth,  a  meaningless 
pledge,  framed  in  a  moment  of  religious  excitement, 
and  well  described  in  its  own  words,  which  assert  "  that 
the  present  act  has  no  other  aim  than  to  manifest  to  the 
world  their  unchangeable  determination  to  adopt  no 
other  rule  of  conduct,  either  in  the  government  of 
their  respective  countries  or  in  their  political  relations 
with  other  governments,  than  the  precepts  of  that 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE.  3 

holy  religion — the  precepts  of  justice,  charity,  and 
peace." 

Considering  themselves  members  of  one  great  Chris 
tian  family  whose  real  and  only  sovereign  was  Almighty 
God,  they  would  look  on  themselves  "  as  delegates  of 
Providence "  sent  "to  govern  so  many  branches  of  the 
same  family,"  and  would  make  the  Word  of  God  and 
the  teachings  of  Jesus  Christ  their  guides  in  "  estab 
lishing  human  institutions  and  remedying  their  imper 
fections." 

That  the  King,  the  Emperor,  and  the  Czar  had  any 
hidden  motive  in  forming  this  far-famed  Holy  Alli 
ance  ;  that  they  said  one  thing  and  meant  another ;  that 
their  intention  was  less  to  rule  in  accordance  with  the 
maxims  of  Christ  than  to  set  up  and  maintain,  absolute 
governments ;  that  when  they  signed  that  league  they 
knew  they  were  forming  a  bond  of  union  against  the 
spread  of  liberal  ideas,  and  even  then  contemplated  a 
system  of  meddling  in  the  affairs  of  other  nations — there 
is  no  evidence  whatever.  Indeed,  if  we  may  believe  the 
stories  that  have  come  down  to  us,  Alexander  and  Fred 
erick  William  were  the  only  sovereigns  who  looked  on 
the  alliance  as  anything  else  than  a  bit  of  religious  en 
thusiasm.  When  Francis  of  Austria  was  asked  to  sign, 
he  answered,  we  are  told,  that  if  the  paper  related  to 
matters  religious  he  must  show  it  to  his  confessor  ;  if  to 
matters  political,  to  his  minister.  This  minister  was 
Prince  Metternich,  who  described  the  paper  in  three 
words  when  he  said,  "  It  is  verbiage  !  " 

The  alliance  having  been  formed,  the  next  step  was 
to  invite  all  the  Christian  powers  of  Europe  except  the 
Pope  to  join  it.  England — whose  representative  at  the 
congress  of  the  allies,  Lord  Castlereagh,  wrote  home 


4:  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

that  the  Emperor  was  not  quite  sound  in  his  mind — 
excused  herself.  The  kings  of  France,  Spain,  Naples, 
and  Sardinia,  however,  signed  gladly,  and  the  era  of 
Christian  politics  was  supposed  to  have  opened. 

That  this  little  society  of  Christian  monarchs  should 
have  any  interest  for  us  of  to-day  is  due  solely  to  the 
fact  that  their  treaty  contains  the  words  "  Holy  Alli 
ance,"  that  the  signers  have  ever  since  been  called  the 
Holy  Allies,  and  that  to  their  league  have  wrong 
fully  been  attributed  results  which  sprang  from  the 
quadruple  treaty  signed  two  months  later  by  Russia, 
Prussia,  Austria,  and  Great  Britain ;  a  new  alliance 
which  bound  the  four  powers  to  do  four  things — ex 
clude  Napoleon  forever  from  power ;  maintain  the 
Government  they  had  just  set  up  in  France ;  resist 
with  all  their  might  any  attack  on  the  army  of  occupa 
tion;  and  meet  in  1818  to  consult  concerning  their 
common  interests,  and  to  take  such  measures  as  should 
then  seem  to  be  best  fitted  to  serve  the  peace  and  hap 
piness  of  Europe. 

Unhappily,  before  1818  came,  a  great  change  took 
place  in  the  political  ideas  of  Europe.  The  old  families 
were  once  again  safely  seated  on  their  old  thrones.  The 
old  nobility,  the  old  courtiers,  were  home  from  their 
wanderings  eager  for  proscription  and  confiscation.  A 
reaction  set  in.  Liberalism  was  checked.  Absolutism 
came  again  into  fashion,  and  before  five  years  had  come 
and  gone  the  Holy  Allies  were  hard  at  work  pulling 
down  and  stamping  out  popular  government  wherever 
and  whenever  it  appeared  in  Europe. 

The  centre  of  this  reactionary  movement  was  Austria, 
then  ruled  by  Metternich,  the  very  personification  of 
resistance  to  progress,  a  man  who  described  his  policy 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE.  5 

as  not  to  go  backward,  not  to  go  forward,  but  to  keep 
things  just  as  they  were.  To  do  this  in  Austria  was 
easy.  To  do  it  in  countries  which  had  been  stirred  and 
awakened  by  the  French  Revolution  was  not  so  easy. 
But  Metternich  went  bravely  to  work  and  began  with 
Naples.  In  1813  Great  Britain  had  forced  Ferdinand, 
King  of  Sicily,  to  grant  a  constitution  to  Sicily  and  to 
promise  one  to  Naples  ;  but  no  sooner  had  the  allies  re 
stored  him  to  the  throne  so  long  occupied  by  Murat  than 
Metternich  persuaded  him  to  sign  a  treaty  pledging  him 
to  keep  his  kingdom  just  as  it  had  been,  and  to  bring  in 
none  of  the  product  of  liberal  ideas.  Ferdinand  kept 
his  agreement,  and  constitutional  government  in  Sicily 
and  Naples  perished. 

In  Spain  the  reaction  was  a  popular  one.  Scarcely 
had  Ferdinand  YII  crossed  the  Pyrenees  in  1814  and 
entered  his  native  land  than  a  wild,  savage,  unreasoning 
outburst  of  loyalty  swept  the  country.  The  courtiers, 
the  churchmen,  the  military  leaders — every  one  who 
gathered  about  the  restored  king — urged  him  to  destroy 
the  present  and  bring  back  the  past ;  to  pull  down  the 
Constitution  and  set  up  the  old  monarchy  as  it  was 
when  Napoleon  drove  him  from  his  throne  seven  years 
before.  He  needed  little  urging,  and  on  May  eleventh, 
1814,  the  work  of  destruction  began.  First,  he  sent 
forth  a  manifesto  from  Valencia  which  destroyed  the 
Constitution  of  1812  and  declared  every  decree  of  the 
Cortes  null  and  void.  Next,  he  restored  the  censorship 
of  the  press.  Then,  growing  bold,  he  arrested  thirty  of 
the  most  distinguished  of  the  Liberal  leaders;  and  at 
this  point  the  people  began  to  lend  a  hand.  Excited 
and  aroused  by  the  priests,  mobs  appeared  all  over  the 
country.  The  writings  of  Liberalists  were  burned  in 


6  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

the  market  places.  The  tablets  erected  to  commem 
orate  the  Constitution  were  pulled  down.  Men  whose 
sole  crime  was  a  firm  belief  in  constitutional  govern 
ment  were  flung  into  prison.  Great  Britain  protested 
and  urged  the  king  to  stop ;  but  priests,  confessors,  and 
palace  favorites  ruled  him,  and  the  work  went  steadily 
on.  May  twenty-third  he  re-established  the  monaster 
ies  and  gave  them  their  old  lands ;  June  twenty-fourth 
he  exempted  the  clergy  from  taxation ;  July  twenty- 
first  he  once  more  put  in  operation  the  most  diabolical 
of  all  the  inventions  of  man — the  Spanish  Inquisition. 

That  France  must  sooner  or  later  have  experienced  a 
like  reaction  was  inevitable.  Signs  of  the  coming  storm 
were  already  apparent  when,  on  March  first,  1815,  Na 
poleon  landed  with  his  guards  in  the  bay  of  Juan,  and 
the  Hundred  Days  commenced.  When  they  had 
ended,  when  the  news  of  "Waterloo  spread  over  France, 
the  storm  broke  with  fury.  A  Royalist  mob  at  Mar 
seilles  sacked  the  quarters  of  the  Mamelukes,  drove  out 
the  garrison,  and  murdered  the  citizens.  Nimes  was 
pillaged.  Avignon  disgraced  herself  by  the  foul  mur 
der  of  Marshal  Brune,  and  Toulouse  by  the  assassina 
tion  and  savage  mutilation  of  General  Ramel.  When 
the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  chosen  in  the  midst  of  this 
excitement,  assembled,  there  was  a  new  proscription,  a 
new  emigration,  a  new  reign  of  terror.  Labedoyere 
was  executed.  Ney  was  shot.  Royalist  committees,  in 
imitation  of  the  Jacobin  clubs,  sprang  up  in  every 
department,  overawed  the  officials,  and  forced  them  to 
drive  thousands  of  Liberalists  from  the  army,  from  the 
navy,  from  the  courts  of  law,  and  from  the  schools  and 
colleges. 

In  Germanv,  in  1815,  it  seemed  as  if  Liberalism 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE.  7 

would  win.  At  the  very  moment  when  Ferdinand  of 
Spain  was  about  to  issue  his  manifesto  establishing  the 
monasteries,  Frederick  William  (May  twenty-second, 
1815)  sent  forth  his  promise  that  Germany  should  have 
a  constitution  and  representative  assembly,  and  that  the 
work  of  framing  the  Constitution  should  begin  in  Sep 
tember.  But  delays  arose,  and  two  years  sped  by  be 
fore  even  the  first  step  was  taken.  Then  it  was  too 
late.  The  middle  classes  cared  not.  The  nobility  were 
eager  for  a  restoration  of  their  old  privileges.  The  sole 
defenders  of  a  Constitution  were  the  professors  in  the 
universities,  the  students,  and  the  journalists,  who  con 
ducted  their  cause  with  so  much  more  zeal  than  wis 
dom  that  when  the  famous  Wartburg  Festival  took 
place  in  1817  Frederick  "William  justly  and  seriously 
doubted  the  expediency  of  granting  the  promised  lib 
erty. 

Amid  all  this  reaction,  one  ruler,  and  one  alone, 
stood  out  as  the  earnest  friend  of  liberal  ideas.  Alex 
ander  of  Russia,  too,  had  made  promises.  But,  unlike 
Frederick  William,  he  had  kept  them,  had  restored  the 
Duchy  of  Warsaw  to  independence  as  the  Kingdom  of 
Poland,  had  given  it  a  constitution  and  representative 
assembly,  and  in  the  spring  of  1818  summoned  the 
Diet.  The  speech  which  he  addressed  to  it  marked 
him  out  as  one  of  the  most  advanced  of  Liberals ;  but 
the  Diet  had  scarcely  ended  its  session  when  a  great 
change  came  over  him.  What  caused  it  no  man  knows ; 
but  when,  in  October,  1818,  he  met  the  sovereigns  and 
ministers  at  the  Conference  of  the  Powers,  Alexander 
was  the  despot  he  ever  after  lived  and  died. 

By  the  Quadruple  Treaty,  signed  at  Paris  in  1815, 
England,  Prussia,  Russia,  and  Austria  bound  themselves 
2 


8  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

to  maintain  the  Government  they  had  just  set  up  in 
France,  and  to  hold  a  Congress  of  the  Powers  in  1818. 
They  met,  accordingly,  in  September,  at  Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle,  and  with  that  conference  a  new  era  opens  in  the 
constitutional  history  of  Europe.  Then  and  there  was 
formed  the  real  "Conspiracy  of  Kings."  The  reac 
tionary  movement  of  three  years  had  extinguished  in 
the  hearts  of  the  best  of  them  the  last  trace  of  liberal 
ism,  and  they  all  stood  together  on  a  common  ground 
of  hatred  of  popular  liberty.  It  was  the  conference  at 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  not  the  Holy  Alliance,  that  united  the 
sovereigns  hi  the  project  of  a  joint  regulation  of  Euro 
pean  affairs,  and  turned  the  Holy  Allies  into  a  mutual 
association  for  the  insurance  of  monarchy. 

Scarcely  had  this  new  purpose  been  formed  when 
the  alliance  was  called  on  to  act.  For  ten  years  past 
the  Spanish  colonies  in  America  had  been  in  a  state 
of  revolt,  first  against  the  rule  of  Joseph  Bonaparte, 
and  then  against  the  tyranny  of  Ferdinand  VII.  Every 
resource  of  the  restored  king  was  used  against  them  and 
used  in  vain.  The  struggle  went  on  till,  the  last  fleet 
having  been  fitted  out,  the  last  regiment  having  been 
sent  to  perish  of  yellow  fever,  and  the  last  dollar  having 
been  drawn  from  the  treasury,  Ferdinand  turned  to  the 
sovereigns  of  Europe  for  aid.  They  had  restored  to  him 
his  throne.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  he 
should  ask  them  to  restore  his  colonies ;  but  it  is  amus 
ing  to  note  the  impudence  with  which  he  intimated 
that  the  work  of  subjugation  should  be  done  by  Great 
Britain.  She  might  have  acted  as  mediator.  More  she 
would  not  do,  and  as  subjugation,  not  mediation,  was 
wanted,  Alexander  came  to  the  relief  of  Ferdinand  and 
sold  him  a  fleet  of  war.  When  it  reached  Cadiz  it  was 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE.  9 

found  that  this  Emperor,  who  in  1815  was  so  eager  to 
see  all  Europe  ruled  in  accordance  with  the  teachings 
of  Christ,  had  sold  his  friend  ships  so  rotten  and  unsea- 
worthy  that  not  one  of  them  was  fit  to  cross  the  Atlantic. 

The  expedition  was  put  off,  and  the  condition  of 
Spanish  America  was  laid  before  the  sovereigns  when 
they  met  at  Aix-la-Chapelle.  The  dangers  which 
threatened  Europe  if  a  federation  of  republics  was  al 
lowed  to  grow  up  in  America  were  discussed ;  a  propo 
sition  was  made  that  a  conference  between  Spain  and 
the  powers  should  be  held  at  Madrid,  and  that  Welling 
ton  should  preside ;  but  Spain  wanted  troops,  not  advice, 
and  was  left  to  subdue  her  colonies  in  her  own  way. 

Her  way  was  to  gather  a  rabble  at  Cadiz  in  the 
summer  of  1819,  call  it  an  army,  and  send  it  off  to 
America.  Before  it  could  sail,  yellow  fever  broke  out, 
the  troops  went  into  camp,  and  while  there,  were  won 
over  to  the  cause  of  constitutional  government  by  the 
agents  of  a  great  conspiracy  which  had  long  been  grow 
ing  under  the  tyranny  of  the  King.  On  January  first, 
1820,  the  day  fixed  for  the  outbreak,  the  troops,  led  by 
Colonels  Quiroga  and  Eiego,  rose  and  declared  for  the 
Constitution  of  1812.  The  rebellion  of  the  soldiers  was 
a  small  affair  in  itself,  but  it  set  an  example ;  it  stirred 
up  others,  and  on  February  twentieth  the  garrison  and 
people  of  Corunna  in  their  turn  proclaimed  the  Consti 
tution. 

And  now  rebellion  spread  fast.  Town  after  town 
followed  Corumia.  The  whole  country  was  up,  and 
Ferdinand  in  great  alarm  announced  his  willingness  to 
assemble  the  Cortes.  His  people  had  long  since  learned 
that  his  word  was  of  no  value,  and,  filling  the  great 
squares  of  Madrid,  they  clamored  all  day  long  for  the 


10  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

Constitution.  At  length  he  gave  way,  and  announced 
his  willingness  to  take  the  oath  to  support  the  Consti 
tution.  The  next  day — the  famous  eighth  of  March, 
1820 — was  one  of  wild  rejoicing.  The  prison  of  the 
Inquisition  was  sacked ;  the  instruments  of  torture 
were  broken  in  pieces ;  political  prisoners  were  set 
free,  and  the  Constitution  carried  in  procession  through 
tKe  streets.  March  ninth  a  mob  entered  the  palace,, 
forced  the  King  to  make  good  his  promise,  and  con 
stitutional  government  once  more  existed  in  Spain. 

As  tidings  of  the  collapse  of  absolutism  in  Spain 
spread  over  Europe,  all  the  members  of  the  Holy  Alli 
ance  save  Alexander  seemed  uncertain  what  to  do.  He 
alone  acted  with  decision,  and  at  once  insisted  that  the 
great  powers  should  require  the  Cortes  to  disavow  the 
revolution  of  the  eighth  of  March — the  revolution  to 
which  it  owed  its  existence — and  give  a  pledge  of  obe 
dience  to  the  King.  In  such  a  demand  England  posi 
tively  refused  to  join,  and  the  first  proposed  attack  on 
Spanish  liberty  by  the  Holy  Alliance  was  postponed. 

Meantime  absolute  monarchy  fell  at  Naples.  The 
success  of  the  Liberalists  in  Spain  aroused  the  Carbo 
nari,  a  great  secret  society  with  lodges  in  every  city  and 
hamlet,  and  a  membership  numbering  at  least  one 
quarter  of  the  male  inhabitants  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Naples.  They  had  long  been  plotting  and  secretly 
waiting  for  the  hour  of  deliverance  which  now  seemed 
at  hand.  Ferdinand  of  Sicily  was  the  uncle  of  Ferdi 
nand  of  Spain,  and  as  he  might  some  day  be  called  to 
the  Spanish  throne,  he  too  had  signed  and  sworn  to 
support  the  Constitution  of  1812  that  his  claims  to  the 
Crown  might  not  be  endangered.  If  he  were  willing 
to  have  a  constitution  in  a  country  which  he  might 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE.  n 

some  day  rule,  why  not  force  him  to  give  the  same  con 
stitution  to  the  kingdoms  over  which  he  was  already 
ruler  ?  The  Carbonari  could  see  no  reason,  and,  rising 
in  armed  rebellion,  they  compelled  Ferdinand  to  pro 
claim  the  Constitution  of  Spain  to  be  the  law  of  the 
Kingdom  of  the  Two  Sicilies,  and  on  July  thirteenth, 
1820,  he  took  the  oath  to  maintain  it. 

The  men  of  Portugal  were  next  to  awake,  and  in 
September,  1820,  they  deposed  the  Kegency  which 
ruled  in  the  name  of  the  absent  King,  set  up  a  Junta, 
and  elected  a  Cortes  to  frame  a  constitution.  For  a 
moment  it  seemed  not  unlikely  that  France  might  throw 
off  the  yoke  of  absolutism.  But  Louis  cried  out  for 
another  meeting  of  the  powers,  and  in  October,  1820, 
the  Emperor  of  Austria  met  the  Czar  and  the  King 
of  Prussia  in  the  little  town  of  Troppau,  in  Moravia. 
England  sent  an  ambassador,  but  he  was  instructed  to 
look  on  and  do  nothing.  France  sent  two  envoys,  but 
they  took  opposite  sides,  and  her  influence  counted  for 
nothing.  The  three  founders  of  the  Holy  Alliance 
were  thus  free  to  do  as  they  pleased,  and  very  quickly 
decided  what  course  to  take.  Ferdinand  was  to  be  in 
vited  to  meet  them  at  Laybach ;  a  summons  was  to  be 
sent,  through  him,  to  the  Neapolitans  to  abandon  their 
Constitution  or  fight ;  and  a  circular  explaining  and  de 
fending  this  new  doctrine  of  armed  intervention  was 
to  be  issued,  in  the  name  of  the  three  powers,  to  all  the 
Courts  of  Europe. 

The  circular  went  forth  on  December  eighth,  1820, 
to  every  foreign  court.  The  events  of  March  eighth  in 
Spain,  and  those  of  July  second  in  Naples,  had  pro 
duced,  the  circular  said,  a  deep  feeling  of  inquietude 
and  alarm,  and  a  desire  to  unite  and  save  Europe  from 


12  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

the  evils  ready  to  burst  upon  her.  That  this  desire 
should  be  most  keen  with  governments  which  not  long 
ago  had  conquered  the  revolution,  and  now  see  it  once 
more  appearing  triumphant,  is  natural.  The  other  pow 
ers  have  therefore  availed  themselves  of  an  incontest 
able  right,  and  have  decided  to  take  common  measures  of 
precaution  and  restrain  such  States  as,  having  revolted 
against  legitimate  governments  and  institutions,  are 
seeking  by  their  agents  to  introduce  like  disorders  and 
insurrections  into  other  States.  As  the  revolution  at 
Naples  strikes  deeper  root  every  day,  and  sensibly  men 
aces  the  tranquillity  of  the  neighboring  powers,  it  is 
necessary  to  immediately  apply  to  her  the  principles 
agreed  on. 

Before  resorting  to  force,  however,  it  was  thought 
best  to  make  one  effort  of  a  peaceful  character,  and 
summon  the  King  of  Naples  to  meet  the  allied  powers 
at  Laybach. 

Thither,  in  January,  1821,  with  the  consent  of  the 
Neapolitan  Parliament,  the  old  King,  leaving  his  son  to 
act  as  regent,  accordingly  went,  only  to  be  told  that  if 
the  order  of  things  existing  since  July,  1820,  were  not 
at  once  abolished  an  Austrian  army  would  occupy  Nea 
politan  soil.  The  same  demand  was  made  known  to 
the  Prince  Regent  at  Naples,  who  stoutly  refused  to 
consider  it,  and  summoned  the  Parliament,  which  de 
clared  that  it  considered  the  old  King  as  under  restraint 
at  Laybach ;  bade  the  Grand  Duke  of  Calabria  continue 
to  exercise  the  Regency,  and  ordered  measures  to  be 
taken  for  the  safety  of  the  State.  A  rush  to  arms  fol 
lowed.  The  Prince  put  himself  at  the  head  of  most  of 
the  troops.  The  King  appealed  to  the  others,  but  they 
answered  that  they  would  not  serve  against  their  f  el- 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE.  13 

lows,  and  cried  out  for  the  Constitution.  Ferdinand, 
now  reduced  to  impotence,  abdicated,  and  went  back  to 
Sicily;  and  one  hundred  thousand  Austrians  entered 
Italy  and  crushed  the  republican  uprisings  in  Naples, 
in  Piedmont,  in  all  Italy,  and  Ferdinand,  in  spite  of  his 
abdication,  was  restored  to  the  throne  of  Naples. 

A  new  declaration  and  a  new  circular  was  now  pub 
lished  by  the  Holy  Allies,  about  to  end  their  conference 
at  Laybach,  and  in  this  circular  was  announced  a  prin 
ciple  which  was  to  guide  them  in  their  future  dealings 
with  nations  struggling  for  liberty.  Having,  in  the 
language  of  the  time,  "  taken  the  people  of  Europe  into 
their  Holy  keeping,"  the  three  autocrats  declared  that 
henceforth  all  "  useful  or  necessary  changes  in  the  legis 
lation  and  administration  of  states  must  emanate  alone 
from  the  free  will,  the  reflecting  and  enlightened  im 
pulse  of  those  whom  God  has  rendered  responsible  for 
power ! " 

Thus  committed  to  the  extermination  of  popular 
government,  the  members  of  the  Holy  Alliance  next 
turned  their  attention  to  Spain.  When  the  Congress 
at  Laybach  adjourned  in  1821,  it  did  so  with  the  under 
standing  that  it  should  meet  again  in  1822.  That  the 
question  of  intervention  in  the  affairs  of  Spain  would 
then  come  up,  and  that  when  it  did,  Great  Britain  would 
have  much  to  say  was  well  known  to  the  powers.  "What 
they  would  do  might  be  doubtful,  but  the  course  she 
should  pursue  was  to  her  certain.  She  would  leave  the 
revolution  in  Spain  to  run  its  course ;  she  would  urge 
the  European  powers  to  do  the  same,  and,  following 
her  own  interests,  would  acknowledge  the  independ 
ence  of  the  Spanish  South  American  colonies.  A  trade 
so  great  had  sprung  up  with  them  that  it  was  impos- 


14  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

sible  to  put  off  the  day  when  she  must  have  in  each, 
if  not  a  minister,  at  least  a  diplomatic  agent.  Such 
a  policy  ran  so  directly  counter  to  the  wishes  of  the 
Holy  Alliance  that  it  was  felt  to  be  necessary  that  it 
should  be  upheld  by  her  foremost  diplomat,  and  her 
Prime  Minister,  Lord  Castlereagh,  was  accordingly 
chosen  to  represent  her.  In  the  instructions  which  he 
drew  up  for  himself,  and  which  the  Cabinet  and  the 
King  approved,  he  was  commanded  to  inform  the  Con 
gress  that  it  was  the  intention  of  England  to  send 
accredited  agents  to  some  of  the  South  American  re 
publics,  which  meant  a  steady  opposition  on  England's 
part  to  any  intervention  by  the  Holy  Alliance.  Un 
happily,  when  the  Congress  met  at  Vienna,  in  Septem 
ber,  Castlereagh  was  dead ;  Canning  was  Prime  Min 
ister,  and  the  Duke  of  Wellington  was  England's 
representative. 

After  a  short  session  at  Yienna,  the  Congress  ad 
journed  to  Verona,  where,  in  October,  1822,  the  affairs 
of  Spain  were  carefully  considered.  ~No  declaration 
was  made  in  the  name  of  the  alliance,  but  an  agree 
ment  was  entered  into  that  certain  changes  should  be 
demanded  in  the  Spanish  Constitution,  and,  if  not 
granted,  the  French  army,  supported,  if  necessary,  by 
Russia,  Austria,  and  Prussia,  should  invade  Spain. 

The  demand  was  made  and  was  refused ;  the  am 
bassadors  of  the  members  of  the  Holy  Alliance  left 
Madrid,  and  on  April  seventh,  1823,  a  French  army, 
led  by  the  Duke  of  Angouleme,  crossed  the  frontier 
and  entered  Spain. 

That  moment  Canning  began  to  act.  He  knew, 
as  everybody  knew,  that  when  the  allies  had  once  set 
tled  the  affairs  of  Spain  they  would  go  on  and  settle 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE.  15 

the  affairs  of  her  former  colonies,  now  recognized  as 
republics  by  the  United  States.  Turning  to  Richard 
Rush,  who  represented  our  country  at  London,  he  pro 
posed  that  the  United  States  should  join  with  England 
in  a  declaration  that,  while  neither  power  desired  the 
colonies  of  Spain  for  herself,  it  was  impossible  to  look 
with  indifference  on  European  intervention  in  their 
affairs,  or  to  see  them  acquired  by  a  third  power. 
Hardly  had  the  request  been  made,  when  Canning  re 
ceived  a  formal  notice  that  later  in  the  year  a  Congress 
would  be  called  to  consider  the  affairs  of  Spanish 
America,  and  again  pressed  Rush  for  an  answer.  Rush 
had  no  instructions,  but  with  a  courage  that  did  him 
honor,  he  replied  that  "we  should  regard  as  highly 
unjust  and  as  fruitful  of  disastrous  consequences  any 
attempt  on  the  part  of  any  European  power  to  take 
possession  of  them  by  conquest,  by  cession,  or  on  any 
other  ground  or  pretext  whatsoever,"  and  promised 
to  join  in  the  declaration  if  England  would  first  ac 
knowledge  the  independence  of  the  little  republics. 
This  she  would  not  do,  and  the  joint  declaration  was 
never  made. 

One  of  the  arguments  which  Canning  used  is  given 
in  Rush's  letter  to  Secretary  Adams,  and  shows  that  he 
at  least  had  no  temporary  policy  in  mind.  "  They " 
[the  United  States],  said  Canning,  "  were  the  first  power 
established  on  that  continent,  and  now  confessedly  the 
leading  power.  They  were  connected  with  South 
America  by  their  position  and  with  Europe  by  their 
relations.  Was  it  possible  they  could  see  with  indiffer 
ence  their  fate  decided  upon  by  Europe  ?  Had  not  a 
new  epoch  arrived  in  the  relative  position  of  the  United 
States  toward  Europe  which  Europe  must  acknowledge  ? 


16  WITH  /THE  FATHERS. 

Were  the  great  political  and  commercial  interests  which 
hung  upon  the  destiny  of  the  new  continent  to  be  can 
vassed  and  adjusted  on  this  hemisphere  without  the  co 
operation  or  even  knowledge  of  the  United  States  ? " 

When  Monroe  received  the  letters  of  Rush  he 
seems  to  have  been  greatly  puzzled  how  to  act.  The 
suggestion  of  England  that  the  time  had  come  to  make 
a  declaration  of  some  sort  admitted  of  no  dispute.  But 
how  was  it  to  be  made  ?  If  he  joined  with  Great  Brit- 
am  would  he  not  be  forming  one  of  the  "  political  con 
nections  "  Washington  had  denounced  in  his  "  Farewell 
Address  " ;  one  of  the  "  entangling  alliances  "  of  which 
Jefferson  had  given  warning  in  his  first  inaugural 
speech  ?  Should  he  make  it  alone,  would  he  not  be 
violating  that  policy  of  non-interference  in  the  affairs 
of  the  colonies  which  he  had  himself  advised  in  six 
messages  and  two  inaugural  speeches  ?  Uncertain  what 
to  do,  he  turned  to  Madison  and  to  Jefferson  for  ad 
vice,  and  sent  the  letters  of  Rush  to  Monticello.  The 
reply  of  Madison  was  long  and  interesting,  and  as  no 
editor  has  ever  yet  thought  it  worth  while  to  give  the 
letter  a  place  in  his  collected  writings,  I  give  it  in  full.* 
The  answer  of  Jefferson  was  written  late  in  October. 

"  The  question  presented  by  the  letters  you  have 
sent  me  is  the  most  momentous  which  has  ever  been 
offered  to  my  contemplation  since  that  of  Independ 
ence.  That  made  us  a  nation  ;  this  sets  our  compass 
and  points  the  course  which  we  are  to  steer  through  the 
ocean  of  time  opening  on  us.  And  never  could  we 
embark  upon  it  under  circumstances  more  auspicious. 
Our  first  and  fundamental  maxim  should  be,  never  to 

*  The  letter  -will  be  found  at  the  end  of  the  essay. 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE.  17 

entangle  ourselves  in  the  broils  of  Europe  ;  our  second, 
never  to  suffer  Europe  to  intermeddle  with  cisatlantic 
affairs.  America,  North  and  South,  has  a  set  of  inter 
ests  distinct  from  those  of  Europe,  and  peculiarly  her 
own.  She  should  therefore  have  a  system  of  her  own, 
separate  and  apart  from  that  of  Europe.  While  the 
last  is  laboring  to  become  the  domicile  of  despotism, 
our  endeavor  should  surely  be  to  make  our  hemisphere 
that  of  freedom." 

Thus  encouraged,  not  simply  to  meet  an  emergency, 
but  to  "  point  the  course  which  we  are  to  steer  through 
the  ocean  of  time  opening  on  us,"  Monroe  consulted 
his  Secretaries.  John  Quincy  Adams  was  then  Secre 
tary  of  State,  and  it  was  at  one  of  these  Cabinet  meet 
ings  that  he  suggested  as  a  third  part  of  the  doctrine 
the  maxim  relating  to  colonization. 

In  the  autumn  of  1818,  as  Mr.  J.  B.  Prevost,  the 
American  Commissioner  sent  out  by  the  President  to 
receive  the  formal  delivery  of  Astoria,  was  on  his  way 
home  he  stopped  at  the  port  of  Monterey,  in  California. 
While  there  he  wrote  a  long  report  of  his  mission  ;  de 
scribed  the  Columbia  River,  the  climate,  soil,  and  physi 
cal  features  of  Oregon,  and  closed  his  narrative  with  an 
account  of  an  incident  which  he  thought  most  serious. 
Until  1816  the  Russians,  he  said,  had  no  settlement 
south  of  fifty-five  degrees.  But  in  that  year,  excited 
very  probably  by  the  glowing  descriptions  of  Humboldt, 
they  had  established  two  colonies  of  an  important  char 
acter.  One  was  at  Atooi,  on  a  Sandwich  Island,  and 
the  other  on  the  California  coast  a  few  leagues  from 
San  Francisco,  the  most  northerly  settlement  of  Spain. 
Only  two  days  before  he  reached  Monterey  two  vessels 
had  left  that  town  for  the  Russian  settlement,  carrying 


18  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

to  it  implements  of  husbandry  and  mechanics  of  every 
sort.  So  plain  an  intention  to  make  a  permanent  set 
tlement  in  the  Pacific  by  a  race  but  just  emerging  from 
savagery  and  ruled  by  a  chief  who  sought  not  to  eman 
cipate  but  to  enthrall,  ought  surely,  Mr.  Prevost  thought, 
to  excite  the  serious  apprehensions  of  the  United 
States. 

But  it  did  not  excite  the  apprehensions  of  the  United 
States,  and  no  more  was  heard  of  the  Russians  till  one 
day  in  February,  1822,  when  the  Chevalier  Pierre  de 
Politica  placed  a  most  alarming  document  in  the  hands 
of  the  Secretary  of  State.  It  was  an  edict  of  the  Em 
peror  Alexander,  and  set  forth  that  the  pursuits  of  com 
merce,  whaling  and  fishing,  and  indeed  of  all  other  in 
dustries  whether  on  the  islands  or  in  the  ports  and  gulfs 
of  the  northwest  coast  of  America,  from  Behring  Straits 
to  fifty-one  degrees,  were  exclusively  granted  to  Eussian 
subjects.  Foreign  vessels  were  therefore  forbidden  not 
only  to  land  on  the  coast  and  islands,  but  even  to  come 
within  one  hundred  Italian  miles  of  them. 

So  unexpected  an  attempt  to  define  the  boundary 
of  the  two  countries  aroused  the  President,  who  de 
manded  of  the  Russian  Minister  the  grounds  on  which 
it  was  based.  Why  had  not  the  boundary  been  ar 
ranged  by  treaty  ?  Why  were  vessels  of  the  United 
States  excluded  beyond  the  limit  to  which  territorial 
jurisdiction  extended  ?  He  answered  that  the  Russians 
had  long  had  a  settlement  at  Novo  Archangelsk,  in 
latitude  fifty-seven,  and  that  fifty-one  degrees  was  about 
midway  between  that  settlement  and  Astoria  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Columbia.  The  restriction  forbidding 
an  approach  to  the  coast  was  laid  in  order  to  keep  out 
foreign  adventurers  who,  not  content  with  carrying  on 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE.  19 

an  illicit  trade  injurious  to  the  interests  of  the  Eussian 
American  Fur  Company,  had  supplied  arms  and  am 
munition  to  the  natives  of  the  Russian  possessions  in 
America  and  incited  them  to  revolt.  Against  these 
doctrines  Adams  protested ;  but  Politica  cut  short  the 
discussion  by  the  statement  that  he  had  no  authority  to 
continue  it,  and  a  year  passed  before  it  was  resumed. 
A  letter  was  then  received  from  the  Baron  de  Tuyl, 
who  had  succeeded  the  Chevalier  de  Politica,  asking 
that  the  American  Minister  at  St.  Petersburg  be  given 
power  to  settle  the  differences  by  negotiation.  The 
invitation  was  accepted,  and  instructions  duly  drawn 
and  despatched. 

While  Adams  was  busy  framing  the  instructions 
under  which  our  Minister  at  St.  Petersburg  was  to  act, 
the  Russian  Minister  called  one  day  in  July,  1823,  at 
the  State  Department,  and  in  the  course  of  conversa 
tion  Adams  announced  to  him  "  that  we  should  con 
test  the  right  of  Russia  to  any  territorial  establishment 
on  this  continent,  and  that  we  should  assume  distinctly 
the  principle  that  the  American  continents  are  no  long 
er  subjects  for  any  European  colonial  establishments." 
A  week  after  this  conversation  the  instructions  were 
sent  off  to  St.  Petersburg,  and  in  giving  an  account  of 
them  to  Mr.  Rush,  at  London,  Adams  reasserted  the 
principle.  When  the  time  came  for  Monroe  to  write 
the  customary  annual  message  to  Congress  there  were 
thus  three  matters  to  be  very  seriously  considered — the 
attempt  of  Russia  to  colonize  in  California,  and  her 
selection  of  51°  of  north  latitude  as  the  south  boundary 
of  Alaska ;  the  threatened  intervention  of  the  Holy 
Allies  in  the  affairs  of  the  South  American  Republics ; 
and  the  proposition  of  Canning  for  a  joint  declaration 


20  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

against  them.  Meeting  after  meeting  was  held  by  the 
Cabinet  to  discuss  these  matters ;  but  what  was  done  had 
best  be  described  by  Adams  himself.  "  I  remarked," 
says  Mr.  Adams,  "  that  the  communications  recently 
received  from  the  Russian  Minister,  Baron  de  Tuyl, 
afforded,  I  thought,  a  very  suitable  and  convenient  op 
portunity  for  us  to  take  our  stand  against  the  Holy 
Alliance,  and  at  the  same  time  to  decline  the  overture 
of  Great  Britain.  It  would  be  more  candid,  as  well  as 
more  dignified,  to  avow  our  principles  explicitly  to 
Russia  and  France,  than  to  come  in  as  a  cock-boat  in 
the  wake  of  the  British  man-of-war. 

"  This  idea  was  acquiesced  in  on  all  sides. 

"'.  .  .  Mr.  Wirt  made  a  question  far  more  important, 
and  which  I  had  made  at  a  much  earlier  stage  of  these 
deliberations.  It  was,  whether  we  shall  be  warranted 
in  taking  so  broadly  the  ground  of  resistance  to  the  in 
terposition  of  the  Holy  Alliance  by  force  to  restore  the 
Spanish  dominion  in  South  America.  It  is,  and  has 
been,  to  me  a  fearful  question.  It  was  not  now  dis 
cussed  ;  but  Mr.  Wirt  remarked  upon  the  danger  of  as 
suming  the  attitude  of  menace  without  meaning  to  strike, 
and  asked,  if  the  Holy  Alliance  should  act  in  direct  hos 
tility  against  South  America,  whether  this  country  would 
oppose  them  by  war.  My  paper  and  the  paragraph 
would  certainly  commit  us  as  far  as  the  Executive  con 
stitutionally  could  act  on  this  point ;  and  if  we  take  this 
course,  I  should  wish  that  a  joint  resolution  of  the  two 
Houses  of  Congress  should  be  proposed  and  adopted  to 
the  same  purport." 

In  the  end  the  views  of  Jefferson  and  Adams  pre 
vailed,  and  when  the  message  was  read  to  Congress  on 
December  second,  1823,  the  members  heard  a  formal 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE.  21 

statement  of  the  doctrine  which  has  ever  since  been 
known  by  the  President's  name. 

After  reviewing  our  relations  with  Russia  he  said  : 

"  In  the  discussion  to  which  this  interest  (the  rights 
of  the  United  States  on  the  northwest  coast  of  America) 
has  given  rise,  and  in  the  arrangements  bj  which  they 
may  terminate,  the  occasion  has  been  judged  proper  for 
asserting,  as  a  principle  in  which  the  rights  and  inter 
ests  of  the  United  States  are  involved,  that  the  Ameri 
can  continents,  by  the  free  and  independent  condition 
which  they  have  assumed  and  maintained,  are  hence 
forth  not  to  be  considered  as  subjects  for  future  coloni 
zation  of  any  ^European  powers." 

Turning  next  to  the  Holy  Alliance  he  said  :  "  We 
owe  it,  therefore,  to  candor,  and  to  the  amicable  rela 
tions  existing  between  the  United  States  and  those  pow 
ers,  to  declare  that  we  should  consider  any  attempt  on 
their  part  to  extend  their  system  to  any  portion  of  this 
hemisphere  as  dangerous  to  our  peace  and  safety.  With 
the  existing  colonies  or  dependencies  of  any  European 
power  we  have  not  interfered,  and  shall  not  interfere. 
But  with  the  governments  who  have  declared  their  in 
dependence,  and  maintained  it,  and  whose  independence 
we  have,  on  great  consideration  and  on  just  principles, 
acknowledged,  we  could  not  view  any  interposition  for 
the  purpose  of  oppressing  them,  or  controlling  in  any 
other  manner  their  destiny,  by  any  European  power,  in 
any  other  light  than  as  the  manifestation  of  an  un 
friendly  disposition  toward  the  United  States. 

"  Our  policy  in  regard  to  Europe,  which  was  adopted 
at  an  early  stage  of  the  wars  which  have  so  long  agi 
tated  that  quarter  of  the  globe,  nevertheless  remains 
the  same,  which  is  not  to  interfere  in  the  internal  con- 


22  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

cerns  of  any  of  its  powers ;  to  consider  tlie  Government 
de  facto  as  the  legitimate  Government  for  us ;  to  culti 
vate  friendly  relations  with  it,  and  to  preserve  those 
relations  by  a  frank,  firm,  and  manly  policy ;  meeting 
in  all  instances  the  just  claims  of  every  power,  submit 
ting  to  injuries  from  none.  But  in  regard  to  these  con 
tinents  circumstances  are  eminently  and  conspicuously 
different.  It  is  impossible  that  the  allied  powers  should 
extend  their  political  system  to  any  portion  of  either 
continent  without  endangering  our  peace  and  happi 
ness  ;  nor  can  any  one  believe  that  our  Southern  breth 
ren,  if  left  to  themselves,  would  adopt  it  of  their  own 
accord.  It  is  equally  impossible,  therefore,  that  we 
should  behold  such  interposition,  in  any  form,  with 
indifference." 

The  doctrine  was  for  all  time,  and,  put  in  plain  lan 
guage,  was  this : 

1.  No  more  European   colonies  on   either  of  the 
American  continents. 

2.  The  United  States  will  "  not  interfere  in  the  in 
ternal  concerns  "  of  any  European  power. 

3.  "  But  in  regard  to  these  continents  (North  and 
South  America)  circumstances  are  eminently  and  con 
spicuously  different,"  and  if  any  European  power  at 
tempts  at  any  future  time  to  extend  its  political  system 
to  any  part  of  this  hemisphere  "  for  the  purpose  of  op 
pressing  "  the  nations  or  "  CONTROLLING  IN  ANT  OTHER 
MANNER  THEIR  DESTINY,"  the  United   States  will  in 
terfere. 

Monroe  might  have  informed  the  Holy  Allies  of  his 
doctrine  under  cover  of  an  official  note.  But  he  pre 
ferred  to  announce  it  before  the  world,  and  in  his  mes 
sage  warned  them  that  any  attempt  on  their  part  to 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE.  23 

violate  the  doctrine  would  be  "  dangerous  to  our  peace 
and  safety  "  and  a  "  manifestation  of  an  unfriendly  dis 
position  toward  the  United  States." 

At  home  the  declaration  was  read  with  pride  and 
satisfaction,  and  an  attempt  was  at  once  made  by  Clay 
to  have  so  much  of  it  as  related  to  the  intervention  of 
the  Holy  Alliance  in  the  affairs  of  South  America  em 
bodied  in  a  joint  resolution  of  the  House  and  Senate. 
The  influence  of  Clay  was  great.  He  was  Speaker  of 
the  House ;  he  was  a  candidate  for  the  presidency. 
But  factional  spirit  ran  high.  The  friends  of  Adams, 
of  Jackson,  of  Crawford,  of  Calhoun  had  no  notion  of 
allowing  him  to  pose  as  the  champion  of  popular  lib 
erty,  and  the  resolution  had  so  little  support  that  Clay, 
yielding  to  political  necessity,  told  the  House  he  would 
let  his  resolution  lie  on  the  table.  By  this  we  are  told 
he  abandoned  the  doctrine  in  its  infancy.  We  think 
not,  and  against  the  act  of  Clay  when  Speaker  of  the 
House  in  1824  would  put  this  act  of  Clay  when  Secre 
tary  of  State  in  1825. 

During  the  summer  of  that  year  common  rumor 
and  the  appearance  of  a  great  French  fleet  on  our  coast 
gave  the  republics  of  South  America  good  reason  to 
believe  that  France  was  about  to  invade  Cuba  and 
Porto  Rico,  with  the  intention  of  securing  one  or  both 
of  the  islands  for  herself.  Such  an  event  was  so  much 
to  be  dreaded  that  Mexico  called  on  the  United  States 
"  to  fulfil,"  in  the  words  of  Mr.  Clay,  "  the  memorable 
pledge  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  in  his 
message  to  Congress  of  December,  1823."  Clay,  with 
as  little  delay  as  possible,  acceded  to  the  request,  ap 
plied  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  instructed  our  Minister  at 
Paris  to  notify  France  "  that  we  would  not  consent  to 
3 


24:  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

the  occupation  of  those  islands  by  any  other  European 
power  than  Spain,  under  any  circumstances  whatever," 
and. bade  Mr.  Poinsett  call  on  Mexico  to  assert  the 
Monroe  Doctrine  "  on  all  proper  occasions."  * 

But  in  England,  according  to  our  Minister  then 
resident  in  London,  the  new  doctrine  was  heard  with 
extravagant  delight.  The  English  people,  English 
statesmen,  and  the  English  press  were  loud  in  their 
praises  of  the  firm  stand  taken  by  the  United  States. 
"  The  question,"  said  Mr.  Brougham,  "  with  regard  to 
South  America  is  now  disposed  of,  or  nearly  so,  for  an 
event  has  recently  happened  than  which  no  event  has 
dispensed  greater  joy,  exultation,  and  gratitude  over  all 
the  freemen  of  Europe :  that  event,  which  is  decisive 
of  the  subject  in  respect  to  South  America,  is  the  mes 
sage  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  Congress." 

The  London  Courier,  the  London  Times,  the  Morn 
ing  Chronicle,  Bell's  Weekly  Messenger,  the  Liverpool 
Advertiser,  were  loud  in  the  praise  of  the  new  doctrine, 
and  when  the  French  administration  journal  L'Etoile 
denounced  the  message  and  called  Monroe  a  dictator,  it 
was  the  London  Times  that  hastened  to  defend  him.f 
The  South  American  Deputies  in  London  were  wild 
with  joy,  and  South  American  securities  of  every  sort 
rose  in  value. 

Having  thus  announced  that  we  would  not  meddle 
in  European  affairs  nor  suffer  the  nations  of  the  Old 
World  to  interfere  with  the  domestic  concerns  of  the 
nations  of  the  ISTew,  it  soon  became  necessary  to  define 

*  Clay  to  Poinsett,  March  26,  1825.  Clay  to  Poinsett,  Nov.  9, 
1825. 

f  Extracts  from  these  journals  will  be  found  at  the  end  of  the 
essay. 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE.  25 

our  own  attitude  toward  the  young  republics  of  South 
America.  One  day  in  the  spring  of  1825,  just  after 
Clay  had  become  Secretary  of  State,  separate  interviews 
were  held  with  the  Ministers  of  Mexico  and  Colombia 
at  their  request.  In  the  course  of  conversation  each 
announced  that  his  Government  was  most  anxious  to 
have  the  United  States  represented  at  a  congress  of 
republics  soon  to  be  held  at  Panama,  that  he  had  been 
empowered  to  extend  such  an  invitation,  but  had  been 
instructed  before  doing  so  to  ask  if  it  would  be  agree 
able  to  the  United  States  to  receive  it. 

Clay  answered,  after  consulting  Adams,  that  the 
United  States  could  not  be  expected  to  take  any  part 
in  the  war  with  Spain,  nor  in  any  council  for  deliberat 
ing  on  the  means  of  continuing  the  struggle  for  inde 
pendence,  and  that  before  expressing  a  willingness  to 
receive  the  formal  invitation  it  would  be  desirable  to 
know  what  subjects  would  be  discussed,  how  the  con 
gress  was  to  be  organized  and  act,  and  what  powers 
were  to  be  given  to  the  diplomatic  agents  composing  it. 
Each  Minister  promised  to  report  this  answer  to  his 
Government,  and  no  more  was  heard  of  the  matter  till 
November.  Then  the  Ministers  replied  to  Clay,  and 
formally  extended  the  invitation.  In  answer  to  the 
question  what  was  to  be  discussed,  Mexico  suggested 
the  kind  of  opposition  to  be  made  to  colonization  in 
America  by  European  powers,  and  the  sort  of  resistance 
to  be  offered  to  the  interference  of  any  neutral  nation 
in  the  war  between  the  young  republics  and  Spain. 
Colombia  approved  these  and  added  two  more — the 
independence  of  the  negro  republic  of  Hayti,  and  a  con 
sideration  of  the  means  to  be  used  for  the  abolition  of 
the  slave-trade.  Guatemala  suggested  that  as  the  powers 


26  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

of  the  Old  World  had  formed  a  continental  system,  and 
held  congresses  to  consider  their  interests,  the  republics 
of  the  ~New  World  should  meet,  form  an  American  sys 
tem,  and  discuss  American  interests. 

Though  the  answers  were  far  from  satisfactory, 
Adams  accepted  the  invitation,  and  in  his  annual  mes 
sage  to  Congress  aroused  his  enemies  with  the  state 
ment  that  "  Ministers  will  be  commissioned  to  attend  " 
the  congress.  In  those  days  the  committees  of  the 
Senate  were  not  elected,  but  were  appointed  by  the 
Yice-President,  and  exercising  this  power,  John  C. 
Calhoun,  well  knowing  what  was  coming,  deliberately 
placed  on  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations  a  ma 
jority  of  senators  hostile  to  Adams.  It  is  needless  to 
say  they  came  from  the  Southern  States. 

»The  feeling  in  the  Senate  over  the  presumption  of 
the  President  in  sending  word  that  "  Ministers  will  be 
commissioned"  was  bitter.  What  business  had  he  to 
take  such  a  step  without  first  consulting  them  ?  "  Will 
be  commissioned,"  indeed !  They  would  see !  So  strong 
was  the  indignation  that  it  is  quite  possible  that  Adams 
thought  it  prudent  to  yield,  for  the  day  after  Christmas 
he  sent  a  long  message  on  the  subject  and  the  names  of 
three  men  to  be  Ministers.  His  constitutional  right  to 
act  without  the  Senate  he  did  not  doubt,  he  said,  but  as 
to  the  expediency  of  using  that  authority  he  was  ready 
to  consult  Congress.  The  opposition  in  the  Senate 
were  angry  before ;  now  they  were  furious,  and  showed 
their  rage  in  four  ways  :  They  endeavored  to  have  the 
message,  which  was  confidential,  considered  with  open 
doors;  they  made  a  call  for  information  which  they 
knew  Adams  would  not  give  ;  they  passed  a  resolution 
censuring  him  for  his  conduct,  and  finally  received 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE.  27 

from  tlie  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,  appointed 
by  Calhoun,  a  long  report,  ending  with  a  resolution 
that  it  was  not  expedient  for  the  United  States  to  be 
represented  in  the  congress  at  Panama. 

It  was  on  this  resolution  that  the  Senate  debate  oc 
curred.  But  to  cite  it  as  a  disavowal  of  the  Monroe 
Doctrine  is  idle.  Other  motives  produced  the  opposi 
tion.  Hatred  of  Adams,  hatred  of  Clay,  but,  above  all, 
the  many  phases  of  the  slave  question,  were  reasons 
enough  why  Randolph  of  Virginia,  Hayne  of  South 
Carolina,  Woodbury  of  New  Hampshire,  White  of 
Tennessee,  Yan  Buren,  Buchanan,  Polk,  Berrien,  and 
Calhoun  should  oppose  the  congress  at  Panama.  Was 
it  to  be  expected  that  any  gentleman  from  the  region 
south  of  the  Mason  and  Dixon  line,  the  Ohio,  and  the 
parallel  thirty-six-thirty,  would  consent  to  see  the  United 
States  enter  into  any  kind  of  a  league  with  republics,  or 
even  apply  the  Monroe  Doctrine  in  behalf  of  republics 
that  had  abolished  slavery,  that  wanted  vigorous  action 
to  be  taken  for  the  suppression  of  the  slave-trade,  and 
were  demanding  recognition  for  the  negro  republic  of 
Hayti  ? 

"  Other  States,"  said  Hayne,  "  will  do  as  they  please ; 
but  let  us  take  the  high  ground  that  these  questions  be 
long  to  a  class  which  the  peace  and  safety  of  a  large 
portion  of  our  Union  forbids  us  to  discuss.  Let  our 
Government  direct  all  our  Ministers  in  South  America 
and  Mexico  to  protest  against  the  independence  of 
Hayti.  But  let  us  not  go  into  council  on  the  slave- 
trade  and  Hayti." 

"  If  slavery,"  said  White,  of  Tennessee,  "  is  an  in 
fliction,  then  all  the  Southern  and  Western  States  have 
it,  and  with  it  their  peculiar  modes  of  thinking  upon  all 


28  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

subjects  connected  with  it.  ...  Is  it  then  fit  that  the 
United  States  should  disturb  the  quiet  of  the  Southern 
and  Western  States  by  a  discussion  and  agreement  with 
the  new  States  on  any  subject  connected  with  slavery  ? 
Let  us  then  cease  to  talk  of  slavery  in  this  House ; 
let  us  cease  to  negotiate  upon  any  subject  connected 
with  it." 

"  Sir,"  exclaimed  Mr.  Holmes,  of  Maine,  "  under 
such  circumstances,  the  question  to  be  decided  is  this : 
"With  a  due  regard  to  the  safety  of  the  Southern  States, 
can  you  suffer  these  islands  (Cuba  and  Porto  Rico)  to  pass 
into  the  hands  of  buccaneers  drunk  with  their  newborn 
liberty?  .  .  .  "What,  then,  is  our  policy?  Cuba  and 
Porto  Rico  must  remain  as  they  are.  To  Europe  the 
President  has  distinctly  said  we  cannot  allow  a  transfer 
of  Cuba  to  any  European  power.  We  must  hold  a 
language  equally  decisive  to  the  South  American  States. 
We  cannot  allow  their  principle  of  universal  emancipa 
tion  to  be  called  into  activity  in  a  situation  where  its 
contagion  from  our  neighborhood  would  be  dangerous 
to  our  quiet  and  safety." 

But  it  is  needless  to  quote  more.  From  Benton, 
from  Randolph,  from  Berrien  in  the  Senate,  and  from 
a  host  of  members  of  the  House,  came  sentiments  of 
the  same  sort.  It  would  be  unjust  to  these  men,  how 
ever,  to  suppose  that  hostility  to  emancipation  was  their 
sole  objection.  They  were  influenced,  and  influenced, 
much,  by  the  belief  that  a  purpose  of  the  congress  at 
Panama  was  to  pledge  this  country  to  make  common 
cause  with  the  South  American  republics  in  carrying 
out  the  principles  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine.  In  resist 
ing  such  action  they  were  right.  It  was  not  the  inten 
tion  of  Monroe,  it  is  not  our  policy,  to  ever  make  with 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE.  29 

any  nation  an  agreement  of  this  kind.  The  House  of 
Representatives  did  well,  therefore,  when,  in  consent 
ing  to  vote  money  for  the  mission,  it  spread  this  resolu 
tion  on  its  journal : 

"  It  is  therefore  the  opinion  of  this  House  that  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  ought  not  to  be  rep 
resented  at  the  Congress  of  Panama  except  in  a  diplo 
matic  character,  nor  ought  they  to  form  any  alliance, 
offensive  or  defensive,  or  negotiate  respecting  such  an 
alliance  with  all  or  any  of  the  South  American  repub 
lics  ;  nor  ought  they  to  become  parties  with  them,  or 
either  of  them,  to  any  joint  declaration  for  the  purpose 
of  preventing  the  interference  of  any  of  the  European 
powers  with  their  independence  or  form  of  government, 
or  to  any  compact  for  the  purpose  of  preventing  coloni 
zation  upon  the  continents  of  America,  but  that  the 
people  of  the  United  States  should  be  left  free  to  act, 
in  any  crisis,  in  such  a  manner  as  their  f eelings  of  friend 
ship  toward  these  republics  and  as  their  own  honor  and 
policy  may  at  the  time  dictate." 

Thus  was  affirmed  two  parts  of  the  Monroe  Doc 
trine  : 

1.  Not  to  form  any  alliance  with  any  foreign  nation, 
nor  join  with  it  in  any  declaration  concerning  the  in 
terference  of  any  European  power  in  its  affairs. 

2.  To  act  toward  them    "in  any  crisis"    as  our 
"  honor  and  policy  may  at  the  time  dictate." 

Thus  was  our  true  attitude  toward  the  nations  of 
the  New  World  defined,  and  the  Monroe  Doctrine 
completed. 

Of  the  men  who  took  part  in  that  famous  debate 
two  are  of  especial  interest  to  us,  for  in  the  course  of 
time  each  was  called  on  to  apply  the  doctrine  he  op- 


30  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

posed,  and  each  in  turn  abandoned  the  position  he  held 
in  1826.  One  is  James  K.  Polk ;  the  other  is  James 
Buchanan. 

In  1826  Polk  in  his  speech  said : 

"  When  the  message  of  the  late  President  of  the 
United  States  was  communicated  to  Congress  in  1823, 
it  was  viewed,  as  it  should  have  been,  as  the  mere  ex 
pression  of  opinion  of  the  Executive,  submitted  to  the 
consideration  and  deliberation  of  Congress,  and  de 
signed  probably  to  produce  an  effect  upon  the  councils 
of  the  Holy  Alliance,  in  relation  to  their  supposed  in 
tention  to  interfere  in  the  war  between  Spain  and  her 
former  colonies.  That  effect  it  probably  had  an  agency 
in  producing ;  and,  if  so,  it  has  performed  its  office. 
The  President  had  no  power  to  bind  the  nation  by  such 
a  pledge." 

When  Polk  uttered  these  words  he  was  a  member 
of  Congress  from  Tennessee.  But  when  our  country 
was  next  called  on  to  apply  the  doctrine  Polk  was 
President  of  the  United  States,  and  had  been  elected 
by  a  party  whose  cry  was,  "  Give  us  Texas  or  divide 
the  spoons ! "  "  The  whole  of  Oregon  or  none ;  fifty- 
four,  forty,  or  fight !  "  and  saw  before  him  a  war  with 
Mexico  and  serious  trouble  with  England.  In  1826 
the  Monroe  Doctrine,  he  thought,  had  been  "  designed 
to  produce  an  effect  on  the  councils  of  the  Holy  Alli 
ance  "  and  "  had  performed  its  office."  Now  he  found 
it  had  still  an  office  to  perform,  gave  his  "  cordial  con 
currence  in  its  wisdom  and  sound  policy,"  and  sent 
this  message  to  Congress : 

"  It  is  well  known  to  the  American  people  and  to 
all  nations  that  this  Government  has  never  interfered 
with  the  relations  subsisting  between  other,  govern- 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE.  31 

merits.  We  have  never  made  ourselves  parties  to  their 
wars  or  their  alliances ;  we  have  not  sought  their  terri 
tories  by  conquest ;  we  have  not  mingled  with  parties 
in  their  domestic  struggles ;  and,  believing  our  own 
form  of  government  to  be  the  best,  we  have  never 
attempted  to  propagate  it  by  intrigues,  by  diplomacy, 
or  by  force.  We  may  claim  on  this  continent  a  like 
exemption  from  European  interference.  The  nations 
of  America  are  equally  sovereign  and  independent  with 
those  of  Europe.  They  possess  the  same  rights,  inde 
pendent  of  all  foreign  interposition,  to  make  war,  to 
conclude  peace,  and  to  regulate  their  internal  affairs. 
The  people  of  the  United  States  cannot,  therefore, 
view  with  indifference  attempts  of  European  powers  to 
interfere  with  the  independent  action  of  nations  on  this 
continent." 

The  cause  of  these  remarks  was  the  dispute — in 
which  we  were  then  engaged  with  England — regarding 
the  ownership  of  the  Oregon  country.  She  claimed  as 
far  south  as  the  Columbia  River.  We  claimed  as  far 
north  as  fifty-four  degrees  forty  minutes.  It  was  as 
much  a  territorial  dispute  as  that  now  going  on  with 
Yenezuela.  Yet  Polk  did  not  hesitate  to  apply  the 
Monroe  Doctrine  and  to  assert  that,  "in  the  existing 
circumstances  of  the  world,  the  present  is  deemed  a 
proper  occasion  to  reiterate  and  reaffirm  the  principle 
avowed  by  Mr.  Monroe,  and  to  state  my  cordial  con 
currence  in  its  wisdom  and  sound  policy.  The  reasser- 
tion  of  this  principle,  especially  in  reference  to  North 
America,  is,  at  this  day,  but  the  promulgation  of  a 
policy  which  no  European  power  should  cherish  the 
disposition  to  resist.  Existing  rights  of  every  European 
nation  should  be  respected,  but  it  is  due  alike  to  our 


32  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

safety  and  our  interests  that  the  efficient  protection  of 
our  laws  should  be  extended  over  our  whole  territorial 
limits,  and  that  it  should  be  distinctly  announced  to  the 
world  as  our  settled  policy,  that  no  future  European 
colony  or  dominion  shall,  with  our  consent,  be  planted 
or  established  on  any  part  of  the  North  American 
Continent." 

Again  a  little  while  and  Polk  applied  the  doctrine 
to  the  purely  territorial  case  of  Yucatan.  A  war  had 
broken  out  between  the  Indians  and  the  whites,  who, 
driven  to  desperation,  appealed  for  help  to  England, 
Spain,  and  the  United  States,  offering  in  return  the 
dominion  and  sovereignty  of  the  Peninsula.  This 
was  not  a  case  of  interf erence  by  any  foreign  power. 
~No  effort  was  being  made  by  any  European  nation  to 
"  extend  its  system."  Two  such  powers  had  been  in 
vited  by  a  hard-pressed  people  struggling  for  life  to 
defend  them  and  receive  in  return  their  country.  But 
Polk — taking  the  broad  ground  that  any  European  peo 
ple  who  by  any  means  gained  on  our  continents  one  foot 
of  territory  more  than  they  had  in  1823,  though  they 
did  so  with  the  consent  and  at  the  request  of  the 
owners  of  the  soil — sent  this  message  to  Congress  in 
1848: 

"  While  it  is  not  my  purpose  to  recommend  the 
adoption  of  any  measure  with  a  view  to  the  acquisition 
of  the  *  dominion  and  sovereignty '  over  Yucatan,  yet, 
according  to  our  established  policy,  we  could  not  con 
sent  to  a  transfer  of  this  '  dominion  and  sovereignty '  to 
either  Spain,  Great  Britain,  or  any  other  European 
power.  In  the  language  of  President  Monroe,  in  his 
message  of  December,  1823,  '  we  should  consider  any 
attempt  on  their  part  to  extend  their  system  to  any  por- 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE.  33 

tion  of  this  hemisphere  as  dangerous  to  our  peace  and 
safety.' " 

They  would  be  controlling  "the  destiny"  of  the 
people  concerned. 

Precisely  the  same  view  was  taken  by  Cass,  when 
Secretary  of  State  under  Buchanan,  in  the  case  of  Mex 
ico.  The  political  condition  of  Mexico  was  frightful. 
Since  the  day  Spain  acknowledged  her  independence 
in  1821  there  had  never  been  a  moment  of  quiet.  In 
thirty-three  years  thirty-six  governments  had  been  set 
up  and  pulled  down,  and  of  them  all  the  worst  were 
those  of  Miramon  and  Juarez,  by  whom  such  enormi 
ties  were  committed  that  England,  France,  and  Spain 
decided  on  armed  intervention  in  Mexican  affairs. 
Against  this,  in  1860,  both  Cass  and  Buchanan  pro 
tested. 

"  While,"  said  the  Secretary,  "  we  do  not  deny  the 
right  of  any  other  power  to  carry  on  hostile  operations 
against  Mexico  for  the  redress  of  its  grievances,  we 
firmly  object  to  its  holding  possession  of  any  part  of 
that  country,  or  endeavoring  by  force  to  control  its 
political  destiny." 

"  I  deemed  it  my  duty,"  said  the  President  in  his 
message  in  December,  1860,  "to  recommend  to  Con 
gress,  in  my  last  annual  message,  the  employment  of  a 
sufficient  military  force  to  penetrate  into  the  interior. 
.  .  .  European  governments  would  have  been  deprived 
of  all  pretext  to  interfere  in  the  territorial  and  domes 
tic  concerns  of  Mexico.  We  should  thus  have  been 
relieved  from  the  obligation  of  resisting,  even  by  force 
should  this  become  necessary,  any  attempt  by  these 
governments  to  deprive  our  neighboring  republic  of 
portions  of  her  territory — a  duty  from  which  we  could 


34  WITH  THE    FATHERS. 

not  shrink  without  abandoning  the  traditional  and  es 
tablished  policy  of  the  American  people." 

Three  statements  are  contained  in  this  exposition  of 
the  doctrine : 

1.  That  we  have  a  duty  resting  on  us  which  we  can 
not  shirk  without  abandoning  the  traditional  and  estab 
lished  policy  of  the  American  people. 

2.  This  duty  is  to  resist  any  attempt  by  a  European 
government  to   deprive  our  neighboring  republic  of 
portions  of  her  territory. 

3.  That,  if  necessary,  resistance  must  go  even  to  the 
use  of  force. 

This  was  sound  and  to  the  point.  But  amid  the  dis 
order  and  confusion  which  marked  the  closing  months 
of  Buchanan's  term  his  views  concerning  affairs  in 
Mexico  were  lost  sight  of.  South  Carolina  had  seceded ; 
State  after  State  was  following  her  in  rapid  succession, 
and  the  people  on  both  sides  of  the  Mason  and  Dixon 
line  were  far  too  busy  with  their  own  concerns  to  know 
or  care  what  any  foreign  power  might  do  in  Mexico. 
Yet  the  three  powers  were  not  unmindful  of  the  warn 
ing,  and  before  proceeding  to  meddle  in  the  affairs  of 
Mexico  they  met  at  London  in  October,  1861,  made  a 
Convention,  and  solemnly  agreed  *  not  to  acquire  a  foot 
of  soil,  nor  meddle  in  any  way  with  the  Government  of 
Mexico. 

Scarcely  had  the  allies  landed  at  Yera  Cruz  when 

"  ART.  II.  The  high  contracting  parties  engage  not  to  seek  for 
themselves,  in  the  employment  of  the  coercive  measures  contemplated 
by  the  present  Convention,  any  acquisition  of  territory,  nor  any  spe 
cial  advantage,  and  not  to  exercise  in  the  internal  affairs  of  Mexico 
any  influence  of  a  nature  to  prejudice  the  right  of  the  Mexican  na 
tion  to  choose  and  to  constitute  freely  the  form  of  its  Government." 


THE  MONROE   DOCTRINE.  35 

the  intention  of  Napoleon  to  violate  the  Convention 
and  found  a  French  empire  in  Mexico  was  disclosed. 
Spain  and  England  then  indignantly  withdrew,  and  left 
him  to  go  on  in  that  career  which  closed  with  the  tragic 
death  of  Maximilian.  To  many  the  invasion  by  the 
French  seemed  the  end  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine.  One 
writer  in  the  London  Times,  in  1862,  declared  Napoleon 
had  done  a  real  service  to  the  world  "  in  extinguishing 
the  Monroe  Doctrine."  Another  in  the  Westminster 
Review  spoke  no  more  than  the  belief  of  all  who  hated 
us  when  he  said :  "  The  occupation  of  Mexico  is  the  ex 
tinction  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine.  That  doctrine,  it 
must  be  owned,  is  both  absurd  and  arrogant  in  theory 
and  in  practice." 

But  the  doctrine  was  not  extinct.  In  the  long  cor 
respondence  which  followed  it  is  indeed  true  that  Seward 
does  not  mention  the  name  of  Monroe,  yet  again  and 
again  he  asserted  the  doctrine.  In  1862,  still  trusting 
to  the  false  assurances  of  Napoleon,  he  informed  our 
Minister  at  Paris  that  the  United  States  avoided  "  inter 
vention  between  the  belligerents,"  because  it  regarded 
"  the  conflict  as  a  war  involving  claims  by  France  on 
Mexico  which  Mexico  has  failed  to  adjust."  *  A  year 
later,  when  the  throne -had  been  offered  to  Maximilian 
and  had  been  accepted,  and  Napoleon  was  desirous  to 
have  the  Empire  recognized  by  us,  Seward  wrote  to  our 
Minister  that  popular  opinion  in  this  country  favored 
"  a  government "  in  Mexico  "  republican  in  form  and 

*  Seward  to  Dayton,  August  23,  1862 :  "  This  Government,  re 
lying  on  the  explanations  which  have  been  made  by  France,  regards 
the  conflict  as  a  war  involving  claims  by  France  which  Mexico  has 
failed  to  adjust  to  the  satisfaction  of  her  adversary,  and  it  avoids 
intervention  between  the  belligerents." 


36  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

domestic  in  its  organization  "  ;  that  to  the  mind  of  Lin 
coln  this  "  popular  opinion  of  the  United  States  is  just 
in  itself  and  eminently  essential  to  the  progress  of  civili 
zation  on  the  American  continent " ;  that  if  France 
ignored  it  and  adopted  "  a  policy  in  Mexico  adverse  to 
the  American  sentiments,"  she  would  prepare  the  way 
for  a  collision  between  France  on  the  one  hand  and  the 
United  States  and  the  American  republics  on  the  other, 
and  that  the  United  States  would  not  recognize  any 
government  in  Mexico  which  was  not  the  choice  of  the 
Mexican  people. 

To  this  view  the  House  of  Representatives  sub 
scribed,  and  in  April,  1864,  not  quite  two  months  be 
fore  Maximilian  landed  at  Yera  Cruz,  unanimously 
declared  that  it  did  not  accord  with  the  policy  of  the 
United  States  to  recognize  any  monarchical  govern 
ment  erected  in  America  by  any  European  power  on 
the  ruins  of  a  Government  once  republican.  Warn 
ings,  protests,  notes  -were  of  no  avail.  Maximilian 
came,  and  a  year  passed  away  before  the  end  of  the 
civil  war  gave  us  the  time  and  the  means  to  enforce 
the  doctrine.  Then,  in  the  summer  of  1865,  General 
Sheridan,  with  fifty  thousand  veteran  troops,  drew 
up  on  the  banks  of  the  Rio  Grande,  and  for  the  first 
time  in  our  history  the  Monroe  Doctrine  was  backed 
up  with  arms.  France  was  notified  once  more  that 
"  the  people  of  every  State  on  the  American  continent 
have  a  right  to  a  Republican  Government  if  they  choose," 
and  that  any  attempt  by  a  foreign  power  to  prevent  the 
enjoyment  of  such  institutions  is  "  in  its  effects  antago 
nistic  to  the  free  and  popular  form  of  Government 
existing  in  the  United  States."  Napoleon  might  still 
have  failed  to  understand  the  doctrine,  but  he  did  not 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE.  37 

fail  to  understand  the  thousand  other  reasons,  armed  to 
the  teeth  and  waiting  on  the  banks  of  the  Rio  Grande, 
and  in  1866  the  French  troops  were  withdrawn. 

Since  that  day  the  Monroe  Doctrine  has  been  in 
many  ways  and  at  many  times  affirmed  and  asserted  by 
Presidents,  by  Secretaries  of  State,  by  the  people.  Sec 
retary  Fish  upheld  and  described  it  in  1870.*  Presi- 

*  "  1870,  July  14.    REPORT  OF  SECRETARY  FISH  TO  PRESIDENT  GRANT. 

"  The  United  States  stand  solemnly  committed  by  repeated  dec 
larations  and  repeated  acts  to  this  doctrine,  and  its  application  to  the 
affairs  of  this  continent.  In  his  message  to  the  two  Houses  of  Con 
gress  at  the  commencement  of  the  present  session,  the  President^ 
following  the  teachings  of  all  our  history,  said  that  the  existing  '  de 
pendencies  are  no  longer  regarded  as  subject  to  transfer  from  one 
European  power  to  another.  When  the  present  relation  of  colonies 
ceases,  they  are  to  become  independent  powers,  exercising  the  right 
of  choice  and  of  self-control  in  the  determination  of  their  future 
condition  and  relations  with  other  powers.' 

"  This  policy  is  not  a  policy  of  aggression ;  but  it  opposes  the  crea 
tion  of  European  dominion  on  American  soil,  or  its  transfer  to  other 
European  powers,  and  it  looks  hopefully  to  the  time  when,  by  the 
voluntary  departure  of  European  governments  from  this  continent 
and  the  adjacent  islands,  America  shall  be  wholly  American. 

"  It  does  not  contemplate  forcible  intervention  in  any  legitimate 
contest ;  but  it  protests  against  permitting  such  a  contest  to  result 
in  the  increase  of  European  power  or  influence ;  and  it  ever  impels 
this  Government,  as  in  the  late  contest  between  the  South  American 
republics  and  Spain,  to  interpose  its  good  offices  to  secure  an  honor 
able  peace.  .  .  . 

"  It  will  not  be  presumptuous  after  the  foregoing  sketch  to  say, 
with  entire  consideration  for  the  sovereignty  and  national  pride  of 
the  Spanish  American  republics,  that  the  United  States,  by  the  pri 
ority  of  their  independence,  by  the  stability  of  their  institutions,  by 
the  regard  of  their  people  for  the  forms  of  law,  by  their  resources  as 
a  Government,  by  their  naval  power,  by  their  commercial  enterprise, 
by  the  attractions  which  they  offer  to  European  immigration,  by  the 
prodigious  internal  development  of  their  resources  and  wealth,  and 
by  the  intellectual  life  of  their  population,  occupy  of  necessity  a 


38  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

dent  Grant  asserted  it  in  Ms  message  asking  for  the 
purchase  of  San  Domingo  in  1870.  The  whole  country 
demanded  an  adherence  to  it  in  1879,  when  the  Inter- 
oceanic  Canal  Congress  met  under  the  direction  of  Fer 
dinand  de  Lesseps  in  Paris.  Resolutions  declaring  that 
the  people  of  the  United  States  still  adhered  to  the  doc 
trine  asserted  by  Monroe,  and  could  not  view  the  at 
tempt  of  the  powers  of  Europe  to  build  a  canal  across 
the  Isthmus  of  Darien  in  any  other  light  than  a  mani 
festation  of  an  unfriendly  disposition  toward  the  United 
States,  were  introduced  into  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  by  Mr.  Burnside  in  1879  and  by  Mr.  Crapo  in 
1880,  and  were  sustained  by  the  Committee  on  For 
eign  Affairs.  This  was  a  new  application.  Hitherto 
the  assertion  of  it  had  been  limited  to  occasions  of  po 
litical  or  military  interference  with  the  affairs  of  Ameri 
can  powers.  Now  it  was  asserted  when  the  enterprise 
was  of  a  commercial  character,  and  this  new  position 
was  well  explained  by  Mr.  Blaine.  The  United  States, 
he  said,  would  not  interfere  with  the  digging  of  the 
canal.  But  capital  so  interested  must  look  for  protec 
tion  to  one  or  more  of  the  great  powers  of  the  world, 
and  no  European  power  could  ever  be  allowed  to  ex 
tend  such  protection.  This  was  nothing  more  than 
pronounced  adherence  to  principles  long  since  an 
nounced,  and  which,  in  the  belief  of  the  President,  were 
an  integral  and  important  part  of  our  national  policy. 

prominent  position  on  this  continent  which  they  neither  can  nor 
should  abdicate,  which  entitles  the'm  to  a  leading  voice,  and  which 
imposes  upon  them  duties  of  right  and  of  honor  regarding  American 
questions,  whether  those  questions  affect  emancipated  colonies  or 
colonies  still  subject  to  European  dominion."  —  Senate  Executive 
Documents,  41  Cong.,  2  Session,  III,  No.  112,  pp.  7,  9. 

V, 


THE   MONROE   DOCTRINE.  39 

In  the  course  of  these  many  years  it  is  indeed  true 
that  the  doctrine  was  denied  and  circumscribed  almost 
as  many  times  as  it  was  affirmed.  But  the  denial  had 
been  from  within,  not  from  without;  that  distinction 
was  reserved  for  our  time  and  for  Lord  Salisbury. 

Many  years  ago,  in  a  tobacco  store  in  New  York 
city,  there  was  a  young  man  named  Robert  Schom- 
burgk.  For  reasons  best  known  to  himself,  he  gave  up 
his  position  of  clerk,  went  to  an  island  off  the  coast  of 
South  America,  studied  its  flora,  its  fauna,  its  physical 
features,  and  made  a  map  of  it,  which  he  sent  to  the 
Royal  Geographical  Society  at  London.  The  map  was 
so  well  done,  and  the  geography  of  South  America  so 
little  known,  that  the  Geographical  Society  urged 
Schomburgk  to  continue  his  studies  on  the  mam-land, 
and  under  a  grant  made  by  the  British  Government  in 
1835  he  began  the  work  of  exploring  the  little  strip  of 
territory  she  had  obtained  from  Holland  in  1814,  and 
which  is  now  known  as  British  Guiana. 

By  1839  the  survey  was  completed,  and  in  his  me 
moir  Schomburgk,  taking  the  ground  that  Great  Brit 
ain  owned  the  Essequibo  River,  and  was  therefore  en 
titled  to  all  the  territory  drained  by  its  tributaries,  drew 
a  line  around  the  sources  of  the  rivers  which  enter  the 
Essequibo  from  the  west,  and  urged  Great  Britain  to 
claim  the  drainage  basin  of  that  river,  which  she  did. 
It  is  interesting  to  note  that  while  she  was  thus  assert 
ing  ownership  over  the  water-shed  of  a  river  in  South 
America  because  the  Dutch  had  once  had  settlements 
there,  she  was  denying  our  claim  to  the  water-shed  of 
the  Columbia  River,  which  had  been  discovered,  ex 
plored,  and  named  by  Captain  Gray,  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States,  had  been  explored  by  Lewis  and  Clark, 


40  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

and  settled  at  Astoria  by  the  fur  company  founded  by 
John  Jacob  Astor. 

But  she  did  more  than  assert  her  claim,  and  in 
1840  Schomburgk  was  sent  to  mark  out  on  the  ground 
the  line,  slightly  modified,  which  he  had  traced  on 
paper.  Against  this  act  of  aggression  Venezuela  pro 
tested,  and  by  order  of  Lord  Aberdeen  the  boundary 
marks  came  down,  and  a  new  line  was  offered  which 
Venezuela  could  not  and  did  not  accept,  and  no  more 
was  heard  of  the  dispute  till  1850.  A  report  was 
then  current  at  Caracas  that  Great  Britain  was  about  to 
seize  the  country  between  the  Schomburgk  line  and  the 
Essequibo,  and  to  allay  the  excitement  caused  by  the 
report  the  British  charge,  acting  under  orders  from 
London,  assured  the  Venezuelan  Minister  that  he  must 
not  mistrust  for  a  moment  the  sincerity  of  the  formal 
declaration  made  in  the  name  and  by  the  authority  of 
the  home  Government  that  Great  Britain  did  not  in 
tend  "  to  occupy  or  encroach  on  the  territory  in  dis 
pute."  Before  the  year  ended,  Venezuela  gave  a  like 
assurance  in  almost  the  same  words,  and  "  the  agreement 
of  1850"  was  completed. 

Venezuela  had  by  this  time  entered  on  a  career  of 
civil  commotion  and  disturbance,  and  for  sixteen  years 
the  boundary  dispute  went  unnoticed.  During  this 
period  each  nation  accused  the  other  of  violating  the 
"agreement  of  1850,"  and  the  charges  .seem  to  be  well 
founded.  At  length,  in  1876,  Venezuela  again  brought 
up  the  boundary  question,  intimated  that  she  would  ac 
cept  a  compromise  line  in  lieu  of  her  just  rights,  and, 
after  four  years  of  effort,  received  from  Lord  Salisbury, 
early  in  1880,  a  statement  of  "  the  claims  of  her  Maj 
esty's  Government  by  virtue  of  ancient  treaties  with 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE.  41 

the  native  races."  This  was  a  great  surprise.  What 
ancient  races  were  referred  to  when  the  treaties  were 
made  ?  By  whom  these  unknown  tribes  had  been  recog 
nized  and  vested  with  the  right  to  make  treaties  were 
matters  known  to  Great  Britain  and  to  her  alone.  These 
Indians,  in  fact,  had  no  more  right  to  make  treaties 
with  Great  Britain  than  have  those  who  inhabit  the 
United  States. 

But  a  greater  surprise  was  yet  to  come.  Lord 
Salisbury  asked  Venezuela  to  suggest  a  line — which  she 
did — and,  waiving  all  claims  east  of  the  Schomburgk 
line,  offered  to  take  that  marked  out  by  Lord  Aber 
deen  in  1844.  Before  an  answer  could  be  made,  the 
Beaconsfield  Ministry  fell  from  power  and  Lord  Salis 
bury  gave  place  to  Lord  Grenville.  From  him,  in 
1881,  came  the  astonishing  reply  that  in  the  course  of 
the  five-and-thirty  years  which  had  elapsed  since  Aber 
deen  drew  the  line  so  many  settlers  had  gone  into  the 
disputed  territory  under  the  belief  that  it  belonged  to 
Great  Britain  that  it  was  impossible  to  deprive  them 
"  of  the  benefits  of  British  rule."  Lord  Grenville  then 
proposed  a  new  line  far  to  the  west  of  those  proposed 
by  Schomburgk  and  Aberdeen. 

In  the  course  of  thirty  years  the  territory  which  in 
1850  Great  Britain  had  admitted  was  "  in  dispute,"  the 
territory  which  she  solemnly  pledged  her  word  she  did 
not  intend  "  to  occupy  or  encroach  "  on,  had  become  so 
full  of  British  subjects  that  she  would  not  give  it  up. 
If  this  is  not  an  act  of  aggression,  if  this  is  not  seek 
ing  to  control  the  destiny  of  a  nation,  if  this  is  not 
spreading  her  system,  then  what  is  it  ?  To  the  offer 
of  a  new  line  thus  made  by  Lord  Grenville,  no  answer 
was  ever  returned  by  Venezuela,  and  the  dispute 


42  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

dragged  on  for  three  more  years.  Meantime  more 
English  settlers  were  going  into  the  territory  west  of 
the  Essequibo,  and  when  in  1884  Great  Britain  heard 
that  land  grants  had  been  made  in  it  by  Venezuela,  she 
dropped  all  diplomacy,  and,  in  the  words  of  Lord  Salis 
bury,  began  "  to  assert  their  undoubted  right  to  the  ter 
ritory  within  the  Schomburgk  line,  while  consenting  to 
hold  open  to  further  negotiation  and  even  arbitration 
the  unsettled  lands  between  that  line  and  what  was 
considered  to  be  the  rightful  boundary,"  Yenezuela 
insisted  that  all  or  none  should  be  submitted  to  arbitra 
tion  ;  and  at  last  when  Great  Britain  began  to  fortify 
the  territory  covered  by  the  agreement  of  1850  she 
broke  off  diplomatic  relations  in  1887. 

So  the  matter  stood  when  in  1895  Congress  passed 
the  joint  resolution  under  which  Mr.  Olney  wrote  his 
now  famous  letter  to  Mr.  Bayard,  which  called  forth 
Lord  Salisbury's  yet  more  famous  note  to  Sir  Julian 
Paunceforte.  In  this  note  a  foreign  government  for 
the  first  time  not  only  denies  the  existence  of  the  Mon 
roe  Doctrine,  but  the  very  right  of  the  United  States 
to  assert  it.  "  I  must  not,"  says  his  lordship,  "  be  un 
derstood  as  accepting  the  Monroe  Doctrine  on  the  part 
of  her  Majesty's  Government.  It  must  always  be  men 
tioned  with  respect  because  of  the  great  statesman  to 
whom  it  is  due,  and  the  great  people  by  whom  it  has 
generally  been  accepted."  But  "no  statesman,"  his 
lordship  continues,  "  however  eminent,  and  no  nation 
however  powerful,  are  competent  to  insert  into  the 
code  of  international  law  a  novel  principle  which  was 
never  recognized  before,  and  which  has  not  since  been 
accepted  by  the  Government  of  any  other  country." 

It  is  not  placing  a  forced  meaning  on  Lord  Sails- 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE.  43 

bury's  language  to  say  that  it  flatly  denies  not  only  ex 
istence,  but  the  very  right  of  existence  to  the  Monroe 
Doctrine.  We  have,  then,  but  one  of  two  alternatives : 
We  must  take  this  time-honored  doctrine  and  put  it 
away  beside  the  leather  fire-buckets  and  the  tin  post- 
horns  of  our  forefathers  as  a  curiosity — a  thing  which 
once  served  its  purpose,  but  is  now,  as  Lord  Salisbury 
says,  utterly  inapplicable  to  the  state  of  things  in  which 
we  live — or  we  must  so  act  that  no  statesman  however 
eminent,  no  nation  however  powerful,  will  ever  again 
have  the  slightest  doubt  of  its  existence  and  its  meaning. 

In  the  assertion  that  the  doctrine  has  no  place  in 
the  law  of  nations  Lord  Salisbury  is  right.  It  does  not 
need  to  be  there.  It  belongs  to  a  class  of  facts  whose 
existence  does  not  and  must  not  depend  on  the  consent 
of  nations.  When  Monroe  announced  his  doctrine  he 
was  not  inserting,  or  attempting  to  insert,  a  principle 
into  the  law  of  nations.  He  stated  a  simple  fact.  The 
time  to  make  that  fact  known  to  the  world  had  come. 
But  who  could  make  it  known  ?  Was  it  the  struggling 
republics  of  South  America  not  then  recognized  by 
Spain,  or  England,  or  any  European  power  ?  or  the 
republic  of  the  United  States,  then,  as  to-day,  the  lead 
ing  power  in  this  hemisphere,  the  great  representative 
of  popular  government  ? 

The  moment  was  a  critical  one.  It  was  not  Mexi 
co,  nor  Buenos  Ay  res,  nor  Chili  that  the  Holy  Allies 
proposed  to  attack,  but  the  Eepublican  institutions  and 
the  Eepublican  governments  of  the  New  World.  It 
was  not  against  the  Holy  Allies,  therefore,  that  Monroe 
spoke,  but  against  the  destruction  of  Democratic  gov 
ernment  in  America.  His  doctrine  was  not  for  1823 
merely,  but  for  all  time. 


44  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

For  Mexico,  for  Buenos  Ayres,  for  Central  Ameri 
ca,  for  Chili  to  have  made  such  an  announcement  in 
1823  would  have  been  foolish  in  the  extreme,  because 
they  could  not  have  made  it  good.  We  alone  could 
declare  it  because  we  alone  were  strong  enough  to  sup 
port  it. 

When  in  the  course  of  time  it  was  expedient  for 
the  people  of  this  country  to  declare  their  independ 
ence  they  did  so,  and  our  independence  is  to-day  un 
questioned  because  we  have  maintained  it  and  so  com 
pelled  the  nations  of  the  world  to  recognize  it.  When 
in  the  course  of  time  it  became  necessary  for  our  good 
and  for  the  good  of  the  republics  of  South  America  to 
announce  a  principle  which  is  to  this  hemisphere  what 
the  balance  of  power  is  to  Europe,  it  was  announced, 
and  we  have  maintained  it  and  must  continue  to  do  so 
till  every  power  accepts  the  Monroe  Doctrine  just  as 
they  accept  our  national  existence. 

Either  we  determine  the  status  of  Republican  gov 
ernment  and  Republican  institutions  in  the  two  Ameri 
cas,  or  the  nations  of  the  Old  World  will  do  it  for  us. 

Lord  Salisbury  asserts  that  even  if  there  was  a 
Monroe  Doctrine  it  could  not  apply  to  Venezuela  be 
cause  Great  Britain  is  not  attempting  to  colonize  or 
to  extend  her  system.  But  the  Monroe  Doctrine  is  not 
limited  to  these  conditions.  It  distinctly  declares  that 
no  nation  of  the  Old  World  is  to  oppress  or  in  any 
other  manner  seek  to  control  the  destiny  of  any  nation 
in  the  New.  The  area  now  claimed  arbitrarily,  and 
with  no  proof  submitted,  by  Great  Britain  is  one  hun 
dred  and  nine  thousand  square  miles — an  area  which  is 
exceeded  by  no  States  in  the  Union  save  Texas,  Cali 
fornia,  and  Montana ;  an  area  ninety  times  as  large  as 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE.  45 

Hhode  Island,  fifty-four  times  as  large  as  Delaware, 
thirteen  times  as  large  as  Massachusetts,  and  forty 
thousand  square  miles  larger  than  the  six  New  England 
States.  Were  we  to  lose  so  great  a  tract,  were  Great 
Britain  to  take  from  us  New  England  and  all  New 
York  east  of  Rochester,  would  she  not  be  controlling 
our  destiny  ?  Would  she  not  be  extending  her  system  ? 
And  when  we  recall  how  much  smaller  Venezuela  is 
than  the  United  States,  and  how  much  larger  a  part 
one  hundred  and  nine  thousand  square  miles  is  of  her 
territory  than  of  ours,  we  can  form  some  rude  concep 
tion  of  how  seriously  such  a  loss  must  affect  her  destiny 
for  all  time  to  come. 

The  Monroe  Doctrine  is  a  simple  and  plain  state 
ment  that  the  people  of  the  United  States  oppose  the 
creation  of  European  dominion  on  American  soil ;  that 
they  oppose  the  transfer  of  the  political  sovereignty 
of  American  soil  to  European  powers;  and  that  any 
attempt  to  do  these  things  will  be  regarded  as  "  dan 
gerous  to  our  peace  and  safety."  What  the  remedy 
should  be  for  such  interposition  by  European  powers 
the  doctrine  does  not  pretend  to  state.  But  this  much 
is  certain :  that  when  the  people  of  the  United  States 
consider  anything  "  dangerous  to  their  peace  and  safe 
ty  "  they  will  do  as  other  nations  do,  and,  if  necessary, 
defend  their  peace  and  safety  with  force  of  arms. 

The  doctrine  does  not  contemplate  forcible  inter 
vention  by  the  United  States  in  any  legitimate  contest, 
but  it  will  not  permit  any  such  contest  to  result  in  the 
increase  of  European  power  or  influence  on  this  conti 
nent,  nor  in  the  overthrow  of  an  existing  government, 
nor  in  the  establishment  of  a  protectorate  over  them, 
nor  in  the  exercise  of  any  direct  control  over  their 


46  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

policy  or  institutions.  Further  than  this  the  doctrine 
does  not  go.  It  does  not  commit  us  to  take  part  in 
wars  between  a  South  American  republic  and  a  Euro 
pean  sovereign  when  the  object  of  the  latter  is  not  the 
founding  of  a  monarchy  under  a  European  prince  in 
place  of  an  overthrown  republic.  But  when  a  Euro 
pean  power  rightfully  or  wrongfully  attempts  to  ac 
quire  so  immense  an  area  as  this,  she  does,  in  the  lan 
guage  of  Monroe,  "  control  the  destiny "  of  a  nation ; 
she  does,  in  the  language  of  Polk,  "  interfere  with  the 
independent  action  of  nations  on  this  continent " ;  she 
is,  as  Cass  expressed  it,  "  holding  possession  of  that 
country " ;  she  is  seeking  "  to  control  its  political  des 
tiny  "  ;  and  we  are  bound,  as  Buchanan  asserted,  to  re 
sist  "  the  attempt  to  deprive  our  neighboring  republic 
of  her  territory,  and  the  Monroe  Doctrine  does  apply." 

NOTES. 

MADISON'S  LETTERS  TO  MONROE. 

MONTPELLIER,   October  «?0,  1823. 

To  President  Monroe : 

DEAR  SIR  :  I  have  received  from  Mr.  Jefferson  your  letter  to 
him,  with  the  correspondence  between  Mr.  Canning  and  Mr.  Rush, 
sent  for  his  and  my  perusal  and  our  opinions  on  the  subject  of  it. 

From  the  disclosures  of  Mr.  Canning  it  appears,  as  was  other 
wise  to  be  inferred,  that  the  success  of  France  against  Spain  would 
be  followed  by  attempts  of  the  Holy  Alliance  to  reduce  the  revolu 
tionized  colonies  of  the  latter  to  their  former  dependence. 

The  professions  we  have  made  to  these  neighbors,  our  sympa 
thies  with  their  liberties  and  independence,  the  deep  interest  we 
have  in  the  most  friendly  relations  with  them,  and  the  consequences 
threatened  by  a  command  of  their  resources  by  the  great  powers 
confederated  against  the  rights  and  reforms,  of  which  we  have  given 
so  conspicuous  and  persuasive  an  example,  all  unite  in  calling  for 
our  efforts  to  defeat  the  meditated  crusade.  It  is  particularly  for 
tunate  that  the  policy  of  Great  Britain,  though  guided  by  calculations 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE.  4.7 

different  from  ours,  has  presented  a  co-operation  for  an  object  the 
same  with  ours.  With  that  co-operation  we  have  nothing  to  fear 
from  the  rest  of  Europe,  and  with  it  the  best  reliance  on  success 
to  our  laudable  views.  There  ought  not  to  be  any  backwardness, 
therefore,  I  think,  in  meeting  her  in  the  way  she  has  proposed, 
keeping  in  view,  of  course,  the  spirit  and  forms  of  the  Constitution 
in  every  step  taken  in  the  road  to  war,  which  must  be  the  last  step 
if  those  short  of  war  should  be  without  avail. 

It  cannot  be  doubted  that  Mr.  Canning's  proposal,  though  made 
with  the  air  of  consultation,  as  well  as  concert,  was  founded  on  a 
predetermination  to  take  the  course  marked  out,  whatever  might  be 
the  reception  given  here  to  his  invitation.  But  this  consideration 
ought  not  to  divert  us  from  what  is  just  and  proper  in  itself.  Our 
co-operation  is  due  to  ourselves  and  to  the  world ;  and  while  it  must 
insure  success,  in  the  event  of  an  appeal  to  force,  it  doubles  the 
chance  of  success  without  that  appeal.  It  is  not  improbable  that 
Great  Britain  would  Jike  best  to  have  the  sole  merit  of  being  the 
champion  of  her  new  friends,  notwithstanding  the  greater  difficulty 
to  be  encountered,  but  for  the  dilemma  in  which  she  would  be 
placed.  She  must  in  that  case  either  leave  us  as  neutrals  to  extend 
our  commerce  and  navigation  at  the  expense  of  hers,  or  make  us 
enemies,  by  renewing  her  paper  blockades  and  other  arbitrary  pro 
ceedings  on  the  ocean.  It  may  be  hoped  that  such  a  dilemma  will 
not  be  without  a  permanent  tendency  to  check  her  proneness  to  un 
necessary  wars. 

Why  the  British  Cabinet  should  have  scrupled  to  arrest  the 
calamity  it  now  apprehends,  by  applying  to  the  threats  of  France 
against  Spain,  "  the  small  effort "  which  it  scruples  not  to  employ 
in  behalf  of  Spanish  America  is  best  known  to  itself.  It  is  difficult 
to  find  any  other  explanation  than  that  interest  in  the  one  case  has 
more  weight  in  her  casuistry  than  principle  had  in  the  other. 

Will  it  not  be  honorable  to  our  country,  and  possibly  not  alto 
gether  in  vain,  to  invite  the  British  Government  to  extend  the 
avowed  disapprobation  of  the  project  against  the  Spanish  colonies  to 
the  enterprise  of  France  against  Spain  herself,  and  even  to  join  in 
some  declaratory  act  in  behalf  of  the  Greeks  f  On  the  supposition  that 
no  form  could  be  given  to  the  act  clearing  it  of  a  pledge  to  follow 
it  up  by  war,  we  ought  to  compare  the  good  to  be  done  with  the 
little  injury  to  be  apprehended  to  the  United  States,  shielded  as 
their  interests  would  be  by  the  power  and  the  fleets  of  Great  Britain, 
united  with  their  own.  These  are  questions,  however,  which  may 


48  WITH  THE   FATHERS. 

require  more  information  than  I  possess,  and  more  reflection  than  I 
can  now  give  them. 

What  is  the  extent  of  Mr.  Canning's  disclaimer  as  to  "  the  re 
maining  possessions  of  Spain  in  America  "  f  Does  it  exclude  future 
views  of  acquiring  Porto  Rico,  etc.,  as  well  as  Cuba?  It  leaves 
Great  Britain  free,  as  I  understand  it,  in  relation  to  Spanish  posses 
sions  in  other  quarters  of  the  globe. 

I  return  the  correspondence  of  Mr.  Rush  and  Mr.  Canning  with 
assurances,  etc. 

J.  Madison  to  Monroe. 

MONTPELUER,  December  £, 1823. 

DEAR  SIR:  I  received  by  yesterday's  mail  your  favor  of  the 
4th,  covering  a  copy  of  the  message  and  another  copy  under  a 
blank  cover.  It  presents  a  most  interesting  view  of  the  topics  se 
lected  for  it.  The  observations  on  the  foreign  ones  are  well  moulded 
for  the  occasion,  which  is  rendered  the  more  delicate  and  serious  by 
the  equivocal  indications  from  the  British  Cabinet.  The  reserve  of 
Canning  after  his  frank  and  earnest  conversations  with  Mr.  Rush  is 
mysterious  and  ominous.  Could  he  have  stepped  in  advance  of  his 
superiors  ?  Or  have  they  deserted  their  first  object  f  Or  have  the 
allies  shrank  from  theirs  ?  Or  is  anything  taking  place  in  Spain 
which  the  adroitness  of  the  British  Government  can  turn  against 
the  allies  and  in  favor  of  South  America  f  Whatever  may  be  the 
explanation,  Canning  ought  in  candor,  after  what  had  passed  with 
Mr.  Rush,  not  to  have  withheld  it,  and  his  doing  so  enjoins  a  cir 
cumspect  reliance  on  our  own  councils  and  energies.  One  thing  is 
certain,  that  the  contents  of  the  message  will  receive  a  very  close 
attention  everywhere,  and  that  it  can  do  nothing  but  good  every 
where. 

(Indorsed)  MONROE,  Js. 

December  6,  1823. 

OPINIONS  OF  THE  ENGLISH  PRESS  ON  THE  MONROE 
DOCTRINE  IN   1824. 

From  the  London  Courier  of  December  24th. 

The  speech  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  is,  in  all  its 
bearings,  a  document  of  more  than  usual  importance.  The  latter 
part,  which  arrived  so  late  yesterday  that  we  were  forced  to  omit 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE.  49 

it  in  a  small  part  of  our  impression,  will  be  found  in  our  last  page 
to-day ;  and,  waiving  every  other  topic  in  the  speech,  we  direct  our 
whole  attention  to  that  part  the  most  important  of  all  to  every  Eu 
ropean  power. 

The  question  of  the  independence  and  recognition  of  the  South 
American  .States  may  now  be  considered  as  at  rest.  Great  Britain 
has,  as  we  have  repeatedly  shown,  acknowledged  their  independence 
de  facto ;  and  the  United  States,  their  nearest  neighbors,  have  not 
only  acknowledged  it,  but  have  given  a  bold  and  manly  notice  to 
the  continental  powers  that  they  shall  treat  "any  interposition 
with  a  view  of  oppressing  or  controlling  them  in  any  manner  as  a 
manifestation  of  an  unfriendly  disposition  toward  themselves,  and 
as  dangerous  to  their  peace  and  safety  " ;  in  other  words,  they  shall 
view  it  as  affording  them  just  ground  for  war. 

After  so  clear  and  explicit  a  warning,  there  is  not  one  of  the 
continental  powers,  we  suppose,  that  will  risk  a  war  with  the 
United  States — a  war  in  which  not  only  they  could  not  expect  to 
have  either  the  aid  or  good  wishes  of  Great  Britain — but  a  war  in 
which  the  good  wishes  of  Great  Britain  (if  she  did  not  choose  to 
give  more  efficient  succor)  would  be  all  on  the  side  of  the  United 
States.  Thus,  then,  we  repeat  that  the  question  may  be  considered 
to  be  set  at  rest ;  we  shall  hear  no  more  of  a  congress  to  settle  the 
fate  of  the  South  American  States.  Protected  by  the  two  nations 
that  possess  the  institutions  and  speak  the  language  of  freedom — by 
Great  Britain  on  one  side,  and  the  United  States  on  the  other — their 
independence  is  placed  beyond  the  reach  of  danger ;  and  the  con 
tinental  powers,  unable  to  harm  them,  will  do  well  to  establish  that 
friendly  and  commercial  intercourse  with  them  which  they  could 
never  have  done  had  they  remained  under  the  yoke  of  Old  Spain. 

From  the  London  Horning  Chronicle. 

The  American  papers,  received  yesterday,  contain  the  accounts 
of  the  opening  of  Congress,  and  the  message  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States.  The  communication  of  the  chief  office-bearer  of  the 
great  Republic  to  the  Legislature  at  this  critical  period,  when  the 
ambition  of  kings,  not  satisfied  with  the  calamity  which  it  has  occa 
sioned  in  Europe,  threatens  to  rekindle  the  flames  of  war  through 
out  the  Western  Hemisphere — was  looked  forward  to  with  the  ut 
most  anxiety.  It  is  worthy  of  the  occasion  and  of  the  people  destined 
to  occupy  so  large  a  space  in  the  future  history  of  the  world. 

What  a  contrast  between  the  manly  plainness  of  this  State  paper 


50  WITH   THE  FATHERS. 

and  the  Machiavelism  and  hypocrisy  of  the  declaration  of  the  mani 
festoes  of  the  Governments  of  this  part  of  the  world ! 

Whatever  lately  were  the  intentions  of  the  French  Ministers  re 
specting  South  America,  it  is  now  asserted,  from  undoubted  author- 
*ty,  that  English  policy  has  prevailed  in  Paris  over  that  of  Russia, 
and  that  not  only  will  France  not  assist  Spain  in  any  attempt  to 
subjugate  her  former  American  colonies,  but  will  view,  not  with  in 
difference,  any  support  which  Russia  or  any  other  nation  may  lend 
her  for  this  purpose.  This  is  certainly  a  wise  resolution  on  the  part 
of  the  French  Government,  for  this  independence  of  the  new  Ameri 
can  States  must  extend  their  commerce,  and  thereby  increase  the 
prosperity  of  Frenchmen.  Russia,  blocked  up  nearly  half  the  year 
by  impenetrable  ice,  can  never  partake  of  Southern  commerce  until 
a  port  be  opened  for  her  in  the  Dardanelles,  and  hence  the  anxiety 
exhibited  by  her  to  involve  France  in  the  expensive  and  hopeless 
employment  of  restoring  America  to  the  yoke  of  the  Bourbons ;  for, 
without  this  or  some  other  occupation  for  the  French  armies  and 
the  British  navy,  she  has  not  the  most  distant  chance  of  accomplish 
ing  the  long  and  ardently  cherished  designs  of  her  empire  against 
ancient  Greece,  now  in  possession.  This  union  of  France  and  Eng 
land  in  the  great  cause  of  American  independence  is  another  strong 
ground  for  expecting  the  continuation  of  the  blessings  of  peace, 
and,  consequently,  an  improvement  in  the  public  credit  of  nations. 
The  speech  of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  so  full  of  wisdom 
and  just  ideas,  has,  however,  had  more  effect  on  the  opinions  of  the 
leaders  in  the  national  securities  than  the  abundance  of  money  or 
the  changed  policy  of  France,  for  in  it  they  see  a  sufficient  guarantee 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  freedom  of  the  American  Continent. 
There  is  no  part,  however,  of  this  speech  which  can  afford  more 
genuine  satisfaction  to  every  civilized  nation  than  the  notice  which 
it  takes  of  the  extraordinary  and  gallant  struggle  made,  at  present, 
by  the  Greeks,  in  the  cause  of  general  independence. 

From  the  Liverpool  Advertiser  of  January  3d. 

By  one  short  passage  in  it,  is  set  at  rest,  we  dare  presume,  what 
ever  may  have  been  in  agitation  by  the  continental  allies,  in  refer 
ence  to  the  late  Spanish  possessions  in  America.  There  will  be  no 
attempt  made,  it  may  be  confidently  affirmed,  to  interfere  with  the 
present  condition  of  those  countries,  when  it  is  known  that  such 
interference  would  be  viewed  by  the  United  States  as  a  just  cause 
of  war,  on  her  part,  with  any  power  attempting  such  interference. 


THE  MONROE  DOCTEINE.  51 

In  regard  of  the  power,  prosperity,  and  resources  of  the  nation 
herself,  also,  the  language  of  the  speech  is  very  interesting ;  her 
revenue,  it  is  affirmed,  will,  on  the  first  of  this  year,  exceed  her  ex 
penditure  by  no  less  than  nine  million  dollars.  Her  population  is 
estimated  at  ten  millions,  and  every  branch  of  industry,  every  source 
of  revenue,  wealth,  and  power  is  flourishing. 

On  its  subjects  of  common  interest  to  all  nations,  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  is  enabled  to  stand  forward  to  suggest 
and  promote  what  is  beneficial,  and  to  crush  what  is  injurious.  In 
the  speech  is  developed  a  new  idea  in  respect  to  maritime  war, 
which,  if  adopted,  on  this  suggestion,  by  other  powers,  will  greatly 
tend  to  lessen  the  evils  of  national  contention.  It  is  proposed  to  do 
away  altogether  with  the  system  of  privateering  in  so  far  as  it  is 
countenanced  by  Governments. 

It  is  also  suggested,  as  a  means  of  effectually  suppressing  the 
slave-trade,  that  vessels  found  by  the  ships  of  any  nation  to  be  en 
gaged  in  this  traffic  shall  be  treated  on  the  same  footing  with  ves 
sels  caught  in  piracy. 

While  in  her  power  and  resources,  as  they  are  illustrated  in  this 
speech,  the  nation  of  the  United  States  exhibits  the  vigor  of  ripe 
years,  she,  in  those  sentiments  of  active  humanity,  seems,  to  our 
thought,  to  preserve  the  fresh  feeling  of  youth,  and  not  to  be  wholly 
engrossed,  as  older  States  are,  in  the  pursuit  or  support  of  purely 
selfish  interests.  And  we  have  thus  a  pleasure  from  contemplating 
her  less  as  that  metaphysical  insentient  thing,  a  State,  than  as  an 
actual  human  and  feeling  being. 

From  Bell's  Weekly  Messenger  of  December  27th. 

The  main  object  of  any  interest  during  the  week  now  passed  is 
the  arrival  of  the  speech  of  the  President  of  the  United  States.  It 
is  a  document  of  the  first  interest  and  importance.  It  is  interest 
ing,  because  it  is  a  brief,  simple,  and  direct  expose  of  republican 
government ;  always  true,  plain  dealing,  and  sincere.  It  is  impor 
tant,  because,  fearing  nothing,  it  conceals  nothing,  and  is  totally 
divested  of  all  trick,  artifice,  commonplace  jargon  which  renders 
the  diplomacy  of  Europe  so  much  more  than  merely  nugatory. 

Long,  very  long,  have  we  wished  that  Canada  might  be  sold  or 
exchanged  with  the  United  States.  Exchanged  for  what  it  may  be 
demanded1?  Why,  for  such  an  annuity  for  a  term  of  years  as  would 
redeem  what  remains  of  the  English  assessed  taxes,  and  redeem 
them  forever. 


52  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

If  America  would  give  us  enough  for  this  purpose  for  five  or 
seven  years,  the  natural  progress  of  our  revenue  would  do  what 
would  be  required  after  that  time.  Add  to  this  that  we  should  save 
upward  of  half  a  million  yearly  in  the  expense  of  the  Canada  Gov 
ernment,  and  nearly  as  much  more  in  the  reduction  of  the  army 
which  it  would  allow.  This  has  long  been  our  own  view,  and  we 
are  persuaded  that  half,  at  least,  of  our  best  statesmen  unite  with 
us  in  it.  As  to  the  right  of  doing  so,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
the  Canadians  would  agree,  and  for  that  reason — because  it  is  their 
decided  interest  to  do  so,  and  because  (if  we  were  Canadians)  we 
should  not  hesitate  one  moment. 

The  third  point  in  the  speech  is  where  the  President  asserts  that 
"  he  owes  it  to  candor,  etc.,  to  declare  that  the  United  States  would 
consider  any  attempt  on  the  part  of  European  monarchies  to  extend 
their  system  to  any  portion  of  the  Western  Hemisphere  as  danger 
ous  to  their  peace  and  safety,"  that  "  with  the  existing  colonies  or 
dependencies  of  any  European  power  they  have  not  interfered  and 
will  not ;  but  that  any  interposition  for  the  purpose  of  oppressing 
or  controlling  any  of  the  States  whose  independence  the  Republic 
has,  after  mature  consideration,  acknowledged,  she  would  consider 
in  no  other  light  than  as  the  manifestation  of  an  unfriendly  dispo 
sition  toward  herself  " ;  in  other  words,  as  a  just  cause  of  war. 

We  have  long,  very  long,  anticipated  that  the  United  States 
would  thus  speak,  and  it  puts  an  end  at  once  to  all  apprehensions 
as  to  any  attempt  by  the  allied  despots  upon  South  America ;  for 
how  can  these  despots  assemble  any  navy  which  for  an  instant  can 
meet  the  American  navy,  or  the  South  American  navy,  when  manned 
and  commanded  by  American  seamen  and  American  naval  officers  ? 

From  the  Paris  fitoile — A  Ministerial  Paper. 

Mr.  Monroe,  who  is  not  a  sovereign,  who  has  himself  told  us  that 
he  is  only  the  first  delegate  of  the  people,  has  taken  in  his  message 
the  tone  of  a  powerful  monarch  whose  armies  and  fleets  are  ready 
to  go  forth  on  the  first  signal.  He  does  more  ;  he  prescribes  to  the 
potentates  of  Europe  the  conduct  they  are  to  pursue  in  certain  cir 
cumstances  if  they  do  not  wish  to  incur  his  displeasure.  Such  is 
the  prohibition  which  he  issues  against  their  ever  thinking  of  any 
new  colonization  in  the  two  Americas. 

Mr.  Monroe  is  the  temporary  President  of  a  Republic  situated  on 
the  Eastern  Continent  of  North  America.  This  Republic  is  bounded 
on  the  south  by  the  possessions  of  the  King  of  Spain,  and  on  the 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE.  53 

north  by  those  of  the  Queen  of  England.  Its  independence  has  only 
been  acknowledged  for  forty  years ;  by  what  title,  then,  are  the  two 
Americas  to  be  under  his  immediate  dependence,  from  Hudson's  Bay 
to  Cape  Horn  ?  What  clamors  did  he  not  raise  in  the  United  States 
when  the  Emperor  of  Russia  wished  to  trace  the  demarcation  of  the 
part  of  territory  which  he  claims  on  the  northeast  coast  as  discov 
ered  by  his  subjects !  This  monarch,  however,  did  not  presume  to 
dictate  laws  to  any  of  the  States  who  have  establishments  on  the 
same  coast.  It  was  reserved  for  Mr.  Monroe  to  show  us  a  dictator 
armed  with  a  right  of  superiority  over  the  whole  of  the  New  World. 

According  to  the  political  system  he  would  establish  it  would  not 
be  permitted  to  Spain  to  make  the  least  effort  to  re-enter  on  the  ter 
ritory  which  for  three  centuries  she  has  possessed.  The  King  of 
Portugal,  as  the  American  papers  have  observed  themselves,  could 
not  act  as  a  sovereign  and  father  without  exposing  himself  to  the 
wrath  of  Mr.  Monroe.  England  would  require  his  previous  consent 
if  it  suited  her  interest  to  make  any  new  military  or  political  estab 
lishment  either  in  Canada  or  Nova  Scotia.  And  yet  Mr.  Monroe's 
message  contains  phrases  indirectly  hostile  to  the  policy  and  ambi 
tion  of  the  great  powers  of  Europe !  But  what  is  that  power  which 
professes  so  proudly  maxims  opposed  to  the  rights  of  sovereignty 
and  the  independence  of  crowns  I  Who  is  that  power  which  pre 
tends  to  prescribe  to  subjects  the  limits  of  obedience ;  who  is  she, 
in  short,  who  does  not  fear  to  compromise  the  existence  of  social 
order  by  declaring  in  the  face  of  heaven  that  she  will  not  recognize 
any  difference  between  a  government  de  facto  and  government  de 
jure  ? 

By  bringing  under  one  point  of  view  all  the  assertions  and  doc 
trines  contained  in  this  message,  it  is  satisfactory  to  consider  that 
it  has  not  yet  received  the  sanction  of  any  of  the  authorities,  even 
of  the  country  where  it  appeared ;  and,  in  short,  that  the  opinions  of 
Mr.  Monroe  are  as  yet  merely  the  opinions  of  a  private  individual. 

The  London  Times  of  January  sixteenth  has  some  very  severe 
and  spirited  remarks  on  the  extract  above  given  from  the  fitoile. 
The  following  paragraph  may  serve  as  a  specimen : 

"  A  direct  attempt  is  made  by  the  Etoile  to  sever  the  Chief  Magis 
trate  of  a  powerful  and  enlightened  nation  from  the  body  of  a  State 
which  he  represents.  '  Not  a  sovereign ! '  No,  but  he  is  the  acknowl 
edged — the  elected  head  and  organ  of  a  great  sovereign  people — one 
whose  elevation  cost  his  country  neither  a  drop  of  blood  nor  a  widow's 
tear,  nor  the  beggary  or  banishment,  the  persecution  or  corruption 


54  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

of  a  single  human  being  among  ten  millions  of  men.  An  eminence 
thus  achieved  may  well  appear,  at  first  sight,  of  questionable  origin 
to  an  ultra ;  but  let  him  consider  his  words.  He  calls  Mr.  Monroe 
a  '  temporary  president,'  but  is  the  power  which  he  exercises  a  tem 
porary  power?  It  is,  on  the  contrary,  a  prerogative  which  never 
dies,  let  who  will  be  its  trustee  for  the  moment,  and  which,  as  Mr. 
Monroe  has  on  this  occasion  employed  it,  has  its  sanction  in  the 
heart  of  every  citizen  among  those  millions  who  confided  it  to  his 
hands.  Will  the  Etoile  venture  to  match  the  durability  of  any  des 
potic  throne  in  Europe  with  that  of  the  President's  chair  in  North 
America1?  If  so,  we  tell  him  that  he  is  likely  to  lose  his  wager.  Or 
will  his  patron  risk  the  fate  of  an  expedition  on  the  chance  of  the 
policy  announced  by  this  '  private  individual,'  Mr.  Monroe  being 
disclaimed  by  '  the  other  authorities '  of  the  republics'?  We  believe 
they  are  not  so  rash.  The  entire  commentary  of  the  unfortunate 
Etoile  is  an  insult  on  the  first  article  of  his  own  creed — viz.,  that  a 
Government  and  the  nation  for  which  it  speaks  must  be  identified." 


THE  THIRD-TEEM  TRADITION. 

THE  f  ramers  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
never  for  a  moment  supposed  that  their  work  could  re 
main  unchanged  for  all  time  to  come.  That  new  con 
ditions  which  they  could  not  then  foresee  would  arise, 
and  would  have  to  be  met  by  remedies  they  could  not 
possibly  devise,  was  as  well  known  to  them  as  the  fact 
that  such  conditions  have  arisen  is  known  to  us.  They 
provided,  therefore,  that  the  Constitution  may  be  amend 
ed  in  either  of  two  ways.  One  of  these  ways  has  never 
yet  been  used.  The  other  has  been  used  so  sparingly 
that  although  many  hundreds  of  amendments  have  been 
offered  in  Congress,  but  nineteen  have  ever  been  sent 
to  the  States. 

That  so  many  have  been  offered  and  so  few  been 
chosen  is  because  some  were  trivial,  because  some  were 
intended  to  cure  ills  that  were  but  temporary  and  soon 
passed  away,  and  because  there  has  gradually  been 
formed  an  unwritten  constitution  which  in  great  meas 
ure  does  away  with  the  need  of  amendments. 

This  unwritten  constitution  is  made  up  of  decisions 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  which  are  regarded  as  final ;  of 
customs  and  usages  which  experience  has  shown  to  be 
good  and  useful ;  and  of  certain  interpretations  and  con 
structions  of  the  written  Constitution  by  the  people. 
In  the  Constitution,  for  instance,  we  read  that  the  Presi- 
5  55 


56  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

dent  "  may  require  the  opinion,  in  writing,  of  the  prin 
cipal  officer  in  each  of  the  Executive  departments,  upon 
any  subject  relating  to  the  duties  of  their  respective  of 
fices."  It  is  by  no  means  obligatory  on  him  to  do  so. 
The  language  is  "  he  may  " — not  "  he  must."  Yet  upon 
this  slender  authority  has  been  founded  a  council  utterly 
unknown  to  the  Constitution.  The  first  President  be 
gan  the  custom  of  never  adopting  any  policy,  never 
taking  any  important  step,  till  he  had  gathered  about 
him  for  consultation  his  Attorney-General  and  his  Sec 
retaries  of  State,  Treasury,  and  War.  Every  succeed 
ing  President  has  followed  his  example  till  the  Cabinet 
— a  piece  of  political  machinery  the  Constitution  did  not 
create,  nor  its  framers  contemplate — has  come  to  be 
looked  upon  as  a  prime  necessity  in  our  system  of  Fed 
eral  Government.  On  no  part,  again,  of  the  Constitu 
tion  did  the  Convention  spend  more  pains  than  on  the 
sections  which  define  the  manner  of  electing  a  Presi 
dent.  Some  members  were  for  having  him  chosen 
by  the  Governors  of  the  States ;  some  by  the  Senate ; 
some  by  the  legislatures  of  the  States ;  some  by  a  body 
of  electors  especially  appointed  for  the  purpose ;  some 
wanted  an  Executive  of  three  men — one  from  the  East 
ern,  one  from  the  Middle,  and  one  from  the  Southern 
States.  All  were  agreed  that  the  choice  should  not  be 
left  to  the  people — to  do  which,  as  one  member  of  the 
Convention  expressed  it,  would  be  as  foolish  as  to  leave 
the  selection  of  colors  to  a  blind  man.  At  length  they 
adopted  the  method  of  choosing  by  electors,  and,  taking 
the  system  by  which  Maryland  chose  her  State  senators, 
modelled  after  it  the  Electoral  Colleges  of  the  States. 
Their  plain  intention  was  that  the  presidential  electors 
should  do  two  things — select  a  suitable  man  to  be  Presi- 


THE  THIRD-TERM  TRADITION.  57 

dent,  and  then  elect  him  to  the  office.  The  people  were 
to  have  no  direct  part  in  the  matter.  But  our  Consti 
tution  was  not  very  old  when  the  need  of  unity  of 
action  among  the  electors  of  the  same  party  became 
apparent,  and  presidential  candidates  began  to  be  nomi 
nated  first  by  the  Congressional  Caucus,  then  by  State 
legislatures,  and  at  last  by  the  National  Nominating 
Convention.  As  every  elector  is  expected  to  give  his 
vote  for  the  nominee  of  his  party,  the  Electoral  Col 
leges  are  practically  stripped  of  all  power  in  the  elec 
tion  of  a  President,  are  reduced  to  mere  boards  for 
registering  and  formally  transmitting  the  result  of  the 
popular  vote,  and  a  highly  important  provision  of  the 
written  Constitution  is  reversed  and  nullified  by  a  cus 
tom  which  forms  a  part  of  the  unwritten  constitution. 

Much  the  same  thing  has  taken  place  with  regard  to 
the  President's  term  of  office.  Every  phase  of  that 
question,  from  the  expediency  of  a  short  term  with  re 
election  to  a  long  term  without  re-election,  seems  to 
have  been  carefully  considered.  At  the  outset  the  gen 
eral  opinion  of  the  delegates  was  that  Congress  should 
elect  the  President ;  that  his  term  of  office  should  be 
three  years ;  and  that  he  should  be  re-eligible,  as  the 
doctrine  of  rotation  would  tend,  it  was  said,  to  throw 
out  of  office  the  men  best  fitted  to  execute  its  duties. 
On  the  other  hand,  many  of  the  members  were  very 
earnest  for  a  term  of  seven  years  and  no  re-election. 
The  Executive,  said  they,  is  to  be  chosen  by  the  Legis 
lature,  and  will  be  absolutely  dependent  on  it,  as  its 
creature  and  the  Executive  of  its  will  and  of  the  laws  it 
passes.  A  long  term  with  no  succession  to  office  will 
prevent  a  false  complaisance  on  the  part  of  the  Legisla 
ture  toward  an  unfit  man,  and  the  temptation  on  the 


58  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

part  of  a  bad  Executive  to  intrigue  with  the  Legislature 
for  reappointment.  One  member  begged  hard  for  tri 
ennial  election  with  ineligibility  after  nine  years  :  but 
the  States  by  a  vote  of  five  to  four  decided  that  the 
President's  term  should  be  seven  years,  and  by  a  vote 
of  seven  to  two  made  him  ineligible  to  re-election. 
Later  on  in  the  debate  the  members  changed  their 
minds,  struck  out  this  prohibition,  and,  by  a  vote  of  six 
States  to  four,  declared  him  to  be  eligible  to  re-election. 
Ten  days  later,  however,  on  the  motion  of  Mason  of 
Virginia,  this  decision  was  set  aside,  and  the  resolution 
passed  that  the  "  Executive  be  appointed  for  seven 
years,  and  be  ineligible  a  second  time." 

This  seemed  to  be  final.  But  when  the  Committee 
of  Detail  made  its  report  there  was  another  struggle  to 
take  the  election  from  Congress.  So  earnest  was  the 
effort  that  the  Convention  could  come  to  no  conclusion, 
and  in  despair  sent  the  matter,  with  a  great  many 
others,  to  a  committee  of  one  from  each  of  the  eleven 
States,  which  in  time  reported  a  plan  for  a  choice  by 
an  Electoral  College — or,  in  case  the  College  failed  to 
elect,  by  the  Senate — and  fixed  the  term  at  four  years. 
In  the  debate  which  followed,  a  member  of  the  com 
mittee  told  the  Convention  that  the  sole  purpose  of  the 
plan  offered  by  the  Committee  of  Eleven  was  to  get 
rid  of  the  provision,  in  the  report  of  the  Committee  of 
Detail,  that  a  President  could  not  be  re-elected,  and  so 
make  him  independent  of  Congress.  He  was  assured 
that  the  College  would  never  elect ;  that  the  Senate 
would  always  make  the  choice ;  and  that  the  President 
would  be  the  creature  of  one  branch  of  Congress.  But 
the  idea  of  re-election  to  many  terms  carried  the  day, 
and  with  some  slight  changes  the  recommendation  of 


THE  THIRD-TERM  TRADITION.  59 

the  Committee  of  Eleven  was  incorporated  in  the  Con 
stitution. 

From  all  this  it  is  quite  clear  that  the  intention  of 
the  framers  was  that  a  President  might  be  elected  over 
and  over  again  as  many  times  as  the  electors  saw  fit  to 
choose  him.  This  was  no  carelessly  formed  decision, 
but  was  the  result  of  a  long  and  bitter  experience  under 
the  old  Articles  of  Confederation  they  were  about  to 
overthrow.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution  the 
belief  was  general  that  the  liberties  of  the  people  and 
the  rights  of  the  State  would  not  be  safe  under  any 
system  of  general  government  if  the  members  of  the 
Federal  Legislature  held  their  offices  for  a  long  term, 
or  were  repeatedly  elected  to  it.  The  Articles  of  Con 
federation  therefore  carefully  provided  that  the  mem 
bers  of  the  Continental  Congress  should  be  chosen 
annually ;  that  they  might  be  recalled  at  any  tune  by 
the  States  that  sent  them ;  and  that  no  delegate  should 
hold  his  office  for  more  than  three  years  in  any  term  of 
six.  The  result  was  disastrous.  Congress  was  a  small 
body.  The  duties  thrust  on  each  member  were  diverse 
and  important.  Yet  the  moment  he  began  to  be  fairly 
familiar  with  his  duties,  the  moment  he  began  to  be  a 
really  efficient  servant  of  the  people,  his  term  expired, 
and  he  returned,  in  the  language  of  the  time,  "  to  the 
body  of  the  people,"  lest  another  term  in  Congress  should 
"  breed  a  lust  of  power."  It  was  with  the  intention  of 
preventing  this  loss  of  the  services  of  valuable  and  ex 
perienced  men  that  the  fathers  carefully  abstained  from 
placing  any  limit  on  the  time  of  service  of  senators  and 
representatives,  and,  after  due  consideration,  reversed 
their  action  and  removed  a  limit  they  had  placed  on  the 
number  of  times  a  citizen  could  be  elected  President. 


6Q  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

But  again  their  purpose  lias  been  defeated  and  their 
judgment  condemned  by  that  great  tribunal — the  peo 
ple — before  which,  in  our  country,  all  public  issues 
must  sooner  or  later  be  tried.  Again  the  unwritten 
constitution  has  amended  the  written,  and  no  task  is 
now  quite  so  hopeless  as  that  of  re-electing  a  President 
to  a  third  term.  For  much  of  this,  precedent  is  alone 
responsible.  Had  our  first  President  been  willing  to 
accept  a  third  term — and  the  people  would  gladly  have 
given  it — he  would  in  all  likelihood  have  been  followed 
by  a  long  line  of  Presidents  each  serving  for  twelve  in 
stead  of  eight  years.  But  he  was  weary  of  office  and 
gladly  laid  it  down.  His  motive  for  this  act  is  so 
often  forgotten  that  it  is  well  to  quote  from  his  "  Fare 
well  Address  " : 

The  acceptance  and  continuance  hitherto  in  office,  to  which 
your  suffrages  have  twice  called  me,  have  been  a  uniform  sacri 
fice  of  inclination  to  the  opinion  of  duty,  and  to  a  deference  to 
what  appeared  to  be  your  wishes.  ...  I  rejoice  that  the  state 
of  your  concerns,  external  as  well  as  internal,  no  longer  renders 
the  pursuit  of  inclination  incompatible  with  the  pursuit  of  duty 
or  propriety. 

No  scruples  about  a  third  term  troubled  him  in  the 
least.  He  went  back  to  private  life  solely  because  he 
was  tired  of  the  presidency,  and  because  the  state  of 
the  country  did  not  demand  a  further  sacrifice  of  his 
comfort.  Yet  this  act  set  an  example  which  for  many 
years  was  followed  implicitly  by  his  successors,  though 
it  was  long  before  the  people  saw  anything  wrong  in 
the  suggestion  of  a  third  term.  Mr.  Jefferson  was  the 
first  to  point  this  out.  More  than  two  years  before  his 
second  term  ended,  the  Legislature  of  Vermont  on  No 
vember  fifth,  1806,  formally  invited  him  to  become  a 


THE  THIRD-TERM  TRADITION.  Gl 

candidate  for  a  third  term,  and  the  great  Republican 
strongholds  made  haste  to  follow  her.  Georgia  joined 
in  the  request  in  December;  Maryland  in  January, 
1807;  Ehode  Island  in  February;  New  York  and 
Pennsylvania  in  March ;  and  ~New  Jersey  in  December. 
North.  Carolina  joined  later.  So  far  Jefferson  had 
made  no  reply,  but  the  time  had  now  come  to  speak 
out,  for  in  a  few  weeks  it  would  be  the  duty  of  the 
Congressional  Caucus  to  nominate — or,  as  the  phrase 
went,  recommend — a  candidate.  On  the  tenth  of  De 
cember,  1807,  therefore,  he  replied  to  the  invitations  of 
Yermont,  New  Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania,  and  gave  his 
reasons  for  declining  a  third  term.  He  said : 

That  I  should  lay  down  my  charge  at  a  proper  period  is  as 
much  a  duty  as  to  have  borne  it  faithfully.  If  some  termination 
to  the  services  of  the  Chief  Magistrate  be  not  fixed  by  the  Con 
stitution,  or  supplied  by  practice,  his  office,  nominally  for  years, 
will  in  fact  become  for  life ;  and  history  shows  how  easily  that 
degenerates  into  an  inheritance.  Believing  that  a  representative 
government  responsible  at  short  periods  of  election  is  that  which 
produces  the  greatest  sum  of  happiness  to  mankind,  I  feel  it  a 
duty  to  do  no  act  which  shall  essentially  impair  that  principle; 
and  I  should  unwillingly  be  the  first  person  who,  disregarding 
the  sound  precedent  set  by  an  illustrious  predecessor,  should 
furnish  the  first  example  of  prolongation  beyond  the  second  term 
of  office. 

The  enemies  of  Mr.  Jefferson  have  asserted  that  his 
long  silence  was  due  to  policy  and  not  to  indifference, 
that  the  thirteen  months  which  elapsed  between  the 
November  day,  1806,  when  the  Legislature  of  Yermont 
invited  him  to  run  again,  and  the  tenth  of  December, 
1807,  when  he  answered  with  his  famous  letter,  were 
spent  in  a  careful  nursing  of  what  in  the  political  lan 
guage  of  our  time  would  be  called  "  his  boom  " ;  and 


62 


WITH   THE  FATHERS. 


that  lie  did  not  say  ~No  till  lie  was  quite  sure  that  it 
would  be  folly  to  say  Yes.  The  charge  is  unfair  and 
unjust ;  yet  the  fact  remains  that  he  could  not  possibly 
have  been  elected.  There  were  then  seventeen  States 
in  the  Union,  casting  a  hundred  and  seventy-six  elec 
toral  votes,  making  eighty -nine  necessary  for  a  choice. 
On  the  tenth  of  December,  1807,  these  votes  stood : 


For  Jefferson  and  a 
third  term. 

Vermont 6 

Rhode  Island ....  4 

New  York 19 

Pennsylvania 20 

New  Jersey 8 

Maryland 9 

Georgia 6 

North  Carolina  . .  14 


Republican  States  not 

Federalist  States.  declaring  for  third  term, 

and  supporting  Madison. 

New  Hampshire. .  7    Virginia 24 

Massachusetts...  19  South  Carolina. ..  10 

Connecticut 9     Ohio 3 

Delaware 3     Kentucky 8 

Maryland 2     Tennessee 5 


40 


50 


It  will  be  observed  that  in  the  list  of  third-term 
States  the  full  electoral  vote  of  each  is  given  to  Jeffer 
son,  except  in  the  case  of  Maryland,  which  in  1804  and 
in  1808  cast  two  Federalist  votes.  These,  therefore, 
have  been  taken  from  him  in  the  table,  leaving  him 

O 

eighty-six,  or  just  three  short  of  a  bare  majority.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  third -term  States,  when  the  election 
took  place,  cast  but  seventy-nine  Republican  votes,  for 
Rhode  Island  was  carried  by  the  Federalists,  who  also 
secured  three  votes  in  North  Carolina. 

Mr.  Jefferson's  chances  in  the  Caucus,  which  met  on 
the  twenty-third  of  January,  1808,  were  very  poor. 
They  were  poorer  still  before  the  people,  who,  the 
land  over,  most  heartily  indorsed  his  anti-third-term 
principles.  The  Democratic  citizens  of  Adams  County, 
Pennsylvania,  in  public  meeting  assembled  at  Gettys 
burg,  approved  "  that  manly  and  sublime  effort  which 


THE  THIRD-TERM  TRADITION.  63 

dictated  your  determination  to  retire  from  public  life  at 
the  close  of  the  next  elective  period  of  your  authority." 
At  a  meeting  of  delegates  from  the  wards  of  Phila 
delphia  an  address  was  drawn  up  in  which  the  Presi 
dent  was  assured  that — 

— in  yielding  homage  to  the  motives  which  have  induced  your 
voluntary  retirement  from  public  life,  while  surrounded  by  the 
warmest  affections  of  the  people,  we  derive  consolation  from  the 
consideration  that  your  example  may  operate  on  all  future  Presi 
dents  to  pursue  a  course  which  has  added  lustre  to  your  charac 
ter,  already  dear  to  liberty  and  to  your  country. 

The  Senate  of  Maryland  in  a  long  address  told  him  : 

While  we  daily  appreciate  the  motives  which  induce  you 
to  decline  being  considered  among  the  number  of  those  out  of 
whom  the  choice  of  our  next  President  is  to  be  made,  and  while 
we  revere  the  patriotism  which  dictated  those  motives,  permit  us 
still  to  indulge  the  pleasing  hope  that  when  the  next  period  of 
presidential  election  approximates  [1812],  should  the  united 
voice  of  your  countrymen  require  it,  those  same  motives  and 
that  same  patriotism  will  induce  you  to  sacrifice  your  private 
wishes  and  convenience  to  your  country's  good. 

Even  the  Legislature  of  the  far-away  Territory  of 
Orleans  was  moved  to  address  the  President  and  to 
heartily  commend  his  wise  decision.  Their  address 
said: 

However  we  may  regret,  in  common  with  our  fellow-citi 
zens  of  the  United  States,  this  determination  to  decline  being  a 
candidate  for  the  highest  office  in  the  gift  of  the  people,  the 
motives  which  induce  it  afford  another  proof  of  your  patriotism, 
and  must  command  the  approbation  of  the  country. 

The  Tammany  Society  of  Philadelphia,  while  cele 
brating  its  anniversary  in  May,  1808,  drank  to  the 


64  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

toast,  "President  Jefferson — Rotation  in  office  is  the 
bulwark  of  freedom.  His  precedent  deserves  our  hom 
age  and  our  gratitude,  and  traitors  would  alone  refuse 
them."  On  the  Fourth  of  July  his  conduct  was  very 
generally  approved  in  some  such  toast  as  this  :  "  Jeffer 
son — May  his  successor  imitate  his  virtues  and  follow 
his  motto,  rotation  in  office." 

That  his  virtues  had  any  influence  on  his  successors 
is  exceedingly  doubtful ;  but  his  bold  assertion  that  two 
terms  were  all  that  it  was  safe  to  give  any  President 
had  a  deep  and  lasting  influence  on  the  people,  and  did 
far  more  than  the  example  of  Washington  to  establish 
the  unwritten  law  which  for  more  than  sixty  years 
none  of  his  successors  was  hardy  enough  to  defy. 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  during  these 
sixty  years  the  third-term  tradition  was  forgotten.  In 
deed,  it  was  rarely  lost  sight  of.  Presidents  referred  to 
it  in  their  messages ;  senators,  representatives,  political 
parties  called  for  a  constitutional  amendment  embody 
ing  it,  and  on  more  than  one  occasion  it  seemed  not  un 
likely  that  such  an  amendment  might  be  secured.  The 
question  first  came  up  in  1823,  when  the  absolute  cer 
tainty  of  a  contested  election  in  1824  led  to  a  desperate 
attempt  to  defeat  certain  candidates  by  means  of  an 
amendment  to  the  Constitution.  One  that  was  offered 
provided  that  no  man  could  be  President  or  Yice-Presi- 
dent  if  he  had  held  any  office  under  the  Constitution 
within  four  years  of  the  day  of  election.  This  would 
have  cut  off  Adams,  Crawford,  and  Calhoun.  Another 
was  to  the  effect  that  no  member  of  Congress  could  be 
a  candidate.  This  would  have  cut  off  Clay.  A  third 
was  designed  to  take  the  choice  of  presidential  electors 
from  the  State  legislatures  and  give  it  to  the  people. 


THE  THIRD-TERM  TRADITION.  65 

This  would  have  assured  the  election  of  Jackson.  While 
the  friends  of  the  various  candidates  differed  as  to  who 
should  be  President,  they  agreed  most  heartily  on  one 
point,  and  in  1824,  by  a  vote  of  36  to  3,  the  Senate  sent 
a  joint  resolution  to  the  House  providing  that  no  Presi 
dent  should  have  more  than  two  terms.  The  House 
did  not  act ;  but  the  failure  of  the  Electoral  Colleges  in 
1824  to  choose  a  President,  and  what  it  pleased  many  to 
consider  the  defeat  of  the  will  of  the  people  by  the 
House  of  Representatives  in  1825,  brought  about  an 
other  serious  effort  to  change  the  constitutional  provis 
ions  regarding  the  President.  Some  wanted  a  method 
by  which  he  could  be  elected  without  the  intervention 
of  the  House  of  Representatives;  some  were  for  an 
election  by  a  direct  vote  of  the  people ;  others,  as  the 
whole  question  of  the  presidency  was  under  discussion, 
proposed  to  so  amend  the  Constitution  as  to  make  it 
read  :  "  ~No  person  who  shall  have  been  elected  to  the 
office  of  President  of  the  United  States  a  second  time 
shall  again  be  eligible  to  that  office." 

This  was  popular  in  the  Senate,  and  passed,  with  no 
opposition,  by  a  vote  of  25  to  4.  In  the  House  the 
joint  resolution  was  sent  to  a  committee  and  never 
heard  from.  Still,  the  idea  would  not  down,  but  year 
by  year,  session  after  session,  came  up  as  vigorous  as 
ever.  In  1828,  in  1829,  in  1830,  in  1831,  in  1832,  in 
1833,  in  1835,  during  both  Jackson's  terms,  it  was  never 
absent  from  the  journals  for  a  session.  Indeed,  as  Jack 
son's  administration  progressed,  as  his  popularity  grew 
stronger  on  the  one  hand,  and  hatred  of  him  became 
more  intense  on  the  other,  men  began  to  think  that  one 
term  was  enough,  and  joint  resolutions  providing  for 
such  a  limitation  were  introduced  over  and  over  again. 


66  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

Of  our  later  Presidents,  Jackson  was  the  only  one 
who  could  have  defied  the  tradition.  He  was  the  first 
"  man  of  the  people  "to  be  raised  to  the  office  of  Chief 
Magistrate.  In  his  day  Democracy  was  indeed  triumph 
ant,  and  he  was  the  ideal  Democrat.  No  one  else  has 
ever  closed  a  second  term  more  honored,  more  truly  be 
loved  by  the  people  than  on  the  day  whereon  he  began 
his  first  term.  He  had  but  to  say  the  word,  and  he 
would  surely  have  been  thrice  President  of  the  United 
States.  But  he,  too,  would  not  break  through  the  un 
written  law,  and  with  the  beginning  of  his  first  term 
we  enter  on  a  long  period  which  might  well  be  called 
the  one-term  era.  Joint  resolutions  providing  for  such 
a  term  limitation  were  introduced  into  Congress  in 
1828,  1829,  1830,  and  1832.  Jackson  proposed  such  a 
restriction  in  his  message  in  1833,  and  the  House  and 
Senate  again  listened  to  demands  for  such  a  constitu 
tional  amendment  in  1835, 1836, 1838,  and  1840.  "When 
the  Whigs  in  1841  read  John  Tyler  out  of  the  party 
they  asserted  in  the  manifesto  that  "  one  term  for  the 
President "  was  Whig  doctrine,  and  they  put  the  same 
pledge  into  their  national  platform  in  1844. 

About  this  time  a  reaction  set  in,  and  in  1844  and 
1846  the  constitutional  amendments  proposed  in  Con 
gress  provide  for  a  term  of  six  years  and  no  re-election. 
Then  follows  a  blank  period  during  which  nothing  is 
heard  of  it,  for  the  custom  of  giving  even  a  second  term 
had  gone  out  of  fashion.  From  Jackson  to  Lincoln  no 
President  was  given  a  second  term,  and  none  save  Yan 
Buren  were  ever  renominated.  But  at  length,  in  1872, 
the  third-term  question  came  up  in  a  very  definite  form. 
The  second  election  of  Grant,  it  will  be  remembered, 
took  place  in  the  autumn  of  that  year,  and  was  scarce- 


THE  THIRD-TERM  TRADITION.  67 

ly  over  when  the  New  York  Herald  raised  the  cry  of 
Csesarism,  and  loudly  proclaimed  that  our  Republican 
institutions  were  threatened  with  ruin  by  the  probable 
re-election  of  Grant  in  1876.  The  possibility  of  such 
an  event  was  four  years  away;  yet  so  great  was  the 
dread  of  it  that  the  third-term  question  became  a  real 
political  issue.  Other  newspapers  echoed  the  cry.  Pub 
lic  men  were  called  on  to  define  their  position.  Polit 
ical  conventions  declared  against  it  in  their  platforms, 
and  finally,  as  the  presidential  year  drew  near,  Mr. 
Springer,  of  Illinois,  moved  this  resolution  in  the  House 
of  Representatives : 

Resolved,  That,  in  the  opinion  of  this  House,  the  precedent 
established  by  Washington,  and  other  Presidents  of  the  United 
States,  in  retiring  from  the  presidential  office  after  their  second 
term,  has  become,  by  universal  concurrence,  a  part  of  our  Repub 
lican  system  of  government,  and  that  any  departure  from  this 
time-honored  custom  would  be  unwise,  unpatriotic,  and  fraught 
with  peril  to  our  free  institutions.* 

How  perfectly  the  resolution  expressed  the  senti 
ments  of  the  people  is  made  manifest  by  the  treatment 
it  received  at  the  hands  of  their  representatives,  who, 
without  a  moment's  hesitation,  suspended  the  rules  and 
passed  it,  on  the  very  day  it  was  introduced,  by  a 
yea-and-nay  vote  of  234  to  18.  Thirty-seven  did  not 
vote. 

This  ended  for  the  time  being  all  hope  of  renomi- 
nating  Grant,  who  retired  at  the  close  of  his  term  and 
began  his  famous  journey  around  the  world.  But  it 
was  only  for  the  time  being,  and,  as  that  journey  drew 

*  Journal  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  December  15,  1875, 
pp.  66,  67. 


68  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

to  a  close,  the  masters  of  the  Republican  party — Mr. 
Conkling,  Mr.  Cameron,  and  Mr.  Logan — determined 
to  renew  the  old  effort  to  re-elect  him.  The  time 
seemed  opportune.  One  of  those  periods  of  despond 
ency — of  political  blues — which  occasionally  afflict  us, 
had  set  in.  The  contested  election  of  1876 ;  the  trou 
bles  in  the  South;  the  pacific  policy  of  Hayes;  the 
attempt  to  steal  the  State  government  in  Maine ;  and, 
above  all,  the  desperate  condition  of  the  Republican 
party — had  aroused  serious  doubts  as  to  the  permanency 
of  "our  free  institutions."  Men  were  beginning  to 
talk  of  a  strong  government,  or  at  least  of  a  govern 
ment  administered  by  a  strong  man — such  as  Grant, 
who  just  at  this  time  landed  on  the  Pacific  coast.  The 
reception  given  him  by  his  countrymen  was  such  as  has 
never  been  accorded  to  any  other  citizen,  and,  mistak 
ing  this  outburst  of  gratitude  for  a  sure  sign  that  the 
people  had  again  turned  to  Grant  for  political  leader 
ship,  the  effort  of  the  machine  to  renominate  him  began 
in  serious  earnest.  The  struggle  which  followed  is  too 
recent  to  need  description.  We  all  remember  how  the 
dominating  power  of  Conkling  in  New  York,  of  Cam 
eron  in  Pennsylvania,  and  of  Logan  in  Illinois  extorted 
from  the  conventions  of  those  States  a  demand  for  the 
nomination  of  Grant ;  how  other  States  followed  this 
lead ;  how  the  friends  of  the  movement  were  denounced 
as  "  Restorationists  "  and  "  Imperialists  "  ;  how  they 
persisted  in  their  effort  to  the  very  last ;  how  in  the 
Chicago  Convention  they  never  cast  less  than  303  votes 
and  once  cast  313 ;  and  how  by  their  persistence  they 
forced  that  compromise  which  resulted  in  the  nomina 
tion  of  Garfield.  All  these  things  are  still  fresh  in  our 
memories,  and,  being  so,  it  is  not  a  little  strange  that  a 


THE  THIRD-TERM  TRADITION.  69 

serious  effort  should  be  on  foot  to  give  a  third  term  to 
Mr.  Cleveland. 

The  fears  which  tormented  the  founders  of  the  Re- 
public  have  long  since  vanished.  "We  do  not  believe 
that  our  democratic  institutions  can  ever  be  subverted 
by  any  occupant  of  the  White  House.  We  stand  in  no 
dread  that  the  day  will  come  when  some  successful  gen 
eral  or  some  unscrupulous  politician  will  first  seize  the 
presidency  and  then  use  its  great  power  to  set  up  a 
life-long  dictatorship,  or  establish  a  kingdom,  on  the 
rums  of  the  Republic.  Yet  there  is  no  reason  to  be 
lieve  that  the  old-time  antipathy  to  a  third  term  is  one 
whit  less  strong  than  it  ever  was.  Any  sane  man  will 
admit  that  the  bank,  or  the  railroad  company,  or  the 
corporation  of  any  sort  that  should  dismiss  a  tried  and 
able  president  merely  because  the  stockholders  had 
twice  placed  him  in  the  executive  chair,  would  deserve 
financial  ruin.  No  tendency  in  the  business  world  is 
more  marked  than  the  constant  effort  to  find  men  pre 
eminently  fitted  to  carry  on  certain  lines  of  business, 
and  to  place  the  management  of  such  concerns  entirely 
in  their  hands.  But  the  common-sense  rules  which 
govern  the  selection  of  the  president  of  a  corporation 
do  not  apply  in  the  election  of  a  President  of  the 
United  States.  Our  Presidents  are  not  chosen  because 
of  their  fitness,  but  because  of  their  availability.  Some 
are  dark  horses;  some  are  nominated  because  they 
alone  can  reconcile  contending  factions ;  some  because 
they  can  carry  pivotal  States.  Others  are  forced  on 
the  voters  by  the  machine.  In  theory  this  is  all 
wrong.  In  practice  no  harm  comes  from  it.  Under 
our  system  of  government  we  do  not  want,  we  do  not 
need,  a  President  of  extraordinary  ability.  The  average 


70  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

man  is  good  enough,  and  for  him  two  terms  is  ample. 
We  want  a  strong  government  of  the  people  by  the 
people,  not  a  government  of  the  people  by  a  strong 
man,  and  we  ought  not  to  tolerate  anything  which  has 
even  the  semblance  of  heredity.  The  advocates  of  a 
third  term  for  Mr.  Cleveland  will  do  well  to  remember 
the  doctrine  of  the  illustrious  founder  of  their  party, 
that  "  in  no  office  can  rotation  be  more  expedient." 


THE  POLITICAL  DEPEAVITY  OF  THE 
FATHERS. 

IN  times  like  the  present,  when  tlie  boss  is  every 
where,  and  when  the  high  places  of  many  State  and 
municipal  governments  are  filled  by  men  who  have 
secured  them  by  methods  greatly  to  be  condemned,  it 
may  afford  the  honest  citizen  some  consolation  to  know 
that  these  evils  have  always  existed.  Whoever  reads 
the  magazines  and  newspapers,  whoever  listens  to  the 
oratory  of  the  pulpit  and  the  after-dinner  speeches  of 
political  reformers,  is  well  aware  of  the  existence  of  a 
widespread  belief  that  politicians  and  legislators  and 
public  men  are  more  corrupt  to-day  than  they  were  in 
the  time  of  our  ancestors  three  generations  ago,  and 
that  the  cause  of  our  political  debasement  is  a  free 
and  unrestricted  ballot.  This,  most  happily,  is  a  pure 
delusion.  A  very  little  study  of  long-forgotten  politics 
will  suffice  to  show  that  in  filibustering  and  gerryman 
dering,  in  stealing  governorships  and  legislatures,  in 
using  force  at  the  polls,  in  colonizing  and  in  distribut 
ing  patronage  to  whom  patronage  is  due,  in  all  the 
frauds  and  tricks  that  go  to  make  up  the  worst  form  of 
practical  politics,  the  men  who  founded  our  State  and 
national  governments  were  always  our  equals,  and  often 
our  masters.  Yet  they  lived  in  times  when  universal 
6  71 


72  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

suffrage  did  not  exist,  and  when  the  franchise  was 
everywhere  guarded  by  property  and  religious  qualifica 
tions  of  the  strictest  kind.  In  New  England,  ninety 
years  ago,  a  voter  must  have  an  annual  income  of  three 
pounds,  or  a  freehold  estate  worth  sixty  pounds.  In 
New  York  he  must  be  possessed  of  an  estate  worth 
twenty  pounds  York  money,  or  rent  a  house  for  which 
he  paid  forty  shillings  annually.  In  New  Jersey  the 
qualification  was  real  estate  to  the  value  of  fifty  pounds, 
in  Maryland  and  South  Carolina  fifty  acres  of  land,  and 
in  Georgia  ten  pounds  of  taxable  property.  But  many 
a  man  who  could  vote  was  hopelessly  debarred  from 
ever  holding  office.  No  citizen  could  be  a  Governor  in 
Massachusetts  who  did  not  own  a  thousand  pounds 
of  real  estate,  nor  be  a  senator  unless  he  had  a  freehold 
worth  three  hundred.  In  North  Carolina  senators 
must  own  three  hundred  acres  of  land,  and  a  Governor 
lands  and  tenements  to  the  value  of  a  thousand  pounds. 
Here  the  qualification  for  a  representative  was  one 
hundred  pounds  of  real  property;  there  it  was  one 
hundred  acres  of  land ;  elsewhere  it  was  two  hundred 
and  fifty  acres  of  land,  and  open  profession  of  the 
Protestant  religion. 

Religious  restrictions  were  almost  universal.  In 
New  Hampshire,  in  New  Jersey,  in  North  Carolina,  in 
South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  the  Governors,  the  mem 
bers  of  legislatures,  and  the  chief  officers  of  State  must 
all  be  Protestants.  In  Massachusetts  and  Maryland 
they  must  be  Christians.  In  North  Carolina  and 
Pennsylvania  they  must  believe  in  the  inspiration  of 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  in  South  Carolina  in  a 
future  state  of  rewards  and  punishments,  and  in  Dela 
ware  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity. 


THE  POLITICAL  DEPRAVITY  OF  THE  FATHERS.  73 

From  the  standpoint  of  those  who,  in  our  day,  dis 
approve  of  universal  suffrage,  this  ought  to  have  been 
a  tune  of  great  political  purity.  The  voters  were  tax 
payers,  Christians,  and  owners  of  property.  The  office 
holders  were  men  of  substance,  while  the  qualifications 
for  holding  office  increased  with  the  dignity  of  the 
place.  Yet  it  was,  in  truth,  a  period  of  great  political 
depravity.  Indeed,  it  may  well  be  doubted  whether, 
in  all  our  annals,  there  can  be  found  a  finer  example- 
of  filibustering  than  that  afforded  by  the  Assembly  of 
Pennsylvania  in  1787. 

The  Legislature  of  that  State  then  consisted  of  one 
House,  which  met  at  Philadelphia,  and  at  the  session 
in  the  autumn  of  1787  had  resolved  to  adjourn,  sine 
die,  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  September.  As  the  ques 
tion  of  the  day  was  the  ratification  of  the  Federal  Con 
stitution,  just  framed,  a  member  of  the  Assembly,  on 
the  morning  of  the  twenty-eighth,  moved  that  a  Con 
vention  be  called  to  consider  the  Constitution,  and  that 
a  time  be  fixed  for  the  choice  of  delegates.  The  ene 
mies  of  the  Constitution  opposed  the  motion,  and,  in 
the  midst  of  the  debate  which  followed,  the  Assembly 
adjourned  for  dinner.  The  opponents  of  the  call  were 
in  the  minority ;  but  without  the  presence  of  at  least 
three  of  them  there  would  be  no  quorum.  All  re 
solved,  therefore,  to  stay  away,  and  when  the  Assembly 
met  again,  at  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  the 
clerk  called  the  roll,  no  quorum  was  present.  The 
sergeant-at-arms  was  thereupon  sent  to  summon  the 
absentees ;  but  not  one  would  obey,  and  the  Assembly 
was  forced  to  adjourn  till  the  following  morning.  One 
of  the  reasons  given  for  objecting  to  a  call  for  a  Conven 
tion  was  that  Congress,  to  which  the  Constitution  had 


74  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

been  transmitted  by  the  framers,  had  not  submitted  it 
to  the  States,  and  that  to  act  before  it  was  sent  out  by 
Congress  was  indecent  and  disrespectful.  It  so  hap 
pened,  however,  that  Congress,  then  in  session  at  New 
York,  had  submitted  the  Constitution  to  the  States, 
and  that  an  express,  riding  post-haste,  brought  the 
resolution  to  a  member  of  the  Assembly  early  on  the 
morning  of  the  twenty-ninth. 

When  the  Assembly  met  on  that  morning,  the  fac 
tious  members  being  still  absent  and  no  quorum  present, 
the  sergeant  and  the  clerk  were  again  sent  to  bid  them 
attend,  and  were  ordered  to  show  the  resolution  of 
Congress,  in  hope  of  removing  their  objections.  But 
every  one  the  sergeant  summoned  replied,  "  I  will  not 
attend."  Meantime  a  report  of  their  conduct  had 
spread  abroad,  and  the  people,  hearing  that  there  was 
no  quorum,  went  to  the  tavern,  seized  two  of  the  ab 
sentees,  dragged  them  to  the  State-House,  thrust  them 
into  the  Assembly  Chamber,  and  blocked  the  doors. 
This  completed  a  quorum,  and  the  Convention  was 
called. 

But  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  all  that  was  good 
was  confined  to  one  party,  and  all  that  was  bad  to  the 
other.  The  Convention  then  called  met  in  the  State- 
House  late  in  November,  1787,  and  took  the  Constitu 
tion  into  consideration.  As  the  members  would  not 
bear  the  expense  of  employing  an  official  stenographer, 
the  labor  of  reporting  the  debate  from  day  to  day  was 
undertaken  by  two  young  men.  One,  Alexander 
James  Dallas,  attended  in  behalf  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Herald.  The  other,  Thomas  Lloyd,  announced  that  he 
would  take  down  the  proceedings  "  accurately  in  short 
hand,"  and  when  the  Convention  had  adjourned  would 


THE  POLITICAL   DEPRAVITY  OF  THE  FATHERS.   75 

publish  them  in  one  small  octavo  volume.  But  the  de 
bate  had  not  gone  on  very  long  before  the  reports  of 
Dallas  in  the  Herald  attracted  attention,  were  copied 
far  and  wide,  and  furnished  such  material  for  opposition 
in  States  yet  to  consider  the  Constitution  that  the  Fed 
eralists  became  alarmed  and  suppressed  them.  To  do 
this  it  was  necessary  to  buy  the  Pennsylvania  Herald, 
which  was  done,  and  the  report  of  the  debate  stops 
abruptly  with  November  thirtieth.  The  Convention  sat 
till  December  fifteenth,  but  not  another  word  of  its  pro 
ceedings  nor  a  line  of  explanation  appears  in  the  Herald. 
It  was  necessary,  in  the  next  place,  to  dispose  of  Mr. 
Lloyd,  who,  though  he  had  published  nothing  as  yet, 
had  promised  to  do  so,  and  had  secured  subscriptions. 
But  he  too  succumbed,  and  when,  to  satisfy  his  sub 
scribers,  he  issued  his  book,  in  place  of  the  debate  accu 
rately  taken  in  short-hand,  as  he  had  promised,  there 
appeared  but  two  speeches — one  by  Thomas  McKean 
and  one  by  James  Wilson,  both  ardent  supporters  of 
the  Constitution.  As  a  consequence,  there  does  not 
exist  to-day  anything  more  than  a  fragment  of  the  pro 
ceedings  of  the  Pennsylvania  Convention  which  ratified 
the  Constitution. 

When  ten  other  States  had  followed  the  example 
of  Pennsylvania,  the  Continental  Congress,  sitting  at 
New  York,  selected  the  first  Wednesday  in  January, 
1789,  as  the  day  when  the  electors  of  President  should 
be  chosen  in  the  eleven  ratifying  States. 

In  most  instances  the  business  of  choosing  them  was 
easily  and  rapidly  transacted.  But  the  Legislature  of 
New  York  was  the  scene  of  a  bitter  contest.  The  As 
sembly  had  passed  a  bill  defining  the  manner  of  elect 
ing  senators  and  presidential  electors,  according  to 


76  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

which  each  House  was  to  nominate  two  men  to  be 
United  States  senators,  and  then  the  Houses  were  to 
meet  in  joint  session  and  compare  lists.  If  there  was 
either  complete  or  partial  disagreement,  a  joint  ballot 
was  to  be  held  on  the  names  of  the  unsuccessful  candi 
dates.  Now,  in  the  Assembly,  the  Antifederalists 
had  a  great  majority,  while  in  the  Senate  the  Federalists 
had  a  small  majority.  Had  the  bill  passed  the  Senate 
and  become  a  law,  the  nominees  of  each  House  would 
have  been  different,  a  joint  session  would  have  been 
necessary,  and  at  that  joint  session  the  Antifederalists 
of  the  Assembly,  greatly  outnumbering  the  Federalists 
of  the  Senate,  would  have  elected  both  senators. 

For  this  reason  the  Senate  disliked  the  bill,  and  so 
amended  it  that,  in  case  the  nominees  of  the  House 
were  not  those  of  the  Senate,  the  House  should  choose 
one  from  the  two  offered  by  the  Senate,  and  the  Senate 
one  from  the  two  proposed  by  the  House.  To  this  the 
House  refused  to  agree,  and  a  conference  followed ;  but 
as  neither  would  yield,  New  York  had  no  senators  during 
the  first  session  of  the  first  Congress. 

By  another  section  of  the  same  bill  provision  was 
made  for  the  choice  of  presidential  electors  in  a  manner 
similar  to  that  for  the  election  of  senators.  Each  House 
was  to  prepare  a  list  of  eight  names,  a  joint  session 
was  to  follow,  the  lists  were  to  be  compared,  and  men 
whose  names  were  on  both  were  to  be  declared  elected. 
If  the  two  lists  were  utterly  different — and  they  were 
absolutely  certain  to  be  so— eight  of  the  sixteen  nomi 
nees  were  to  be  chosen  by  joint  ballot,  in  which  event 
the  eight  proposed  by  the  Assembly  would  have  been 
elected.  The  Senate,  of  course,  refused  to  hear  of  such 
a  plan ;  and  as  the  Assembly  would  not  yield,  no  elec- 


THE  POLITICAL  DEPRAVITY  OF  THE  FATHERS.  77 

tors  were  chosen,  and  New  York  cast  no  vote  for  Presi 
dent  in  1789. 

This  stubborn  contest  between  the  two  Houses  over 
the  choice  of  electors  and  senators  was  followed,  three 
years  later,  by  the  theft  of  the  governorship.  The 
candidates  were,  John  Jay  for  the  Federalists  and 
George  Clinton  for  the  Republicans.  Each  had  been 
long  in  public  life ;  each  had  rendered  many  and  dis 
tinguished  services  to  the  State ;  and,  as  a  consequence, 
the  election  was  close — so  close,  indeed,  that  the  loss  of 
a  few  votes  would  decide  it  either  way. 

In  those  days,  when  men  were  without  the  tele 
graph,  the  railroad,  or  the  steamboat,  and  when  the 
centre  of  New  York  State  was  the  frontier,  the  count 
ing  and  canvassing  of  a  State  vote  was  a  slow  and  tedi 
ous  matter.  The  law  required  that  as  soon  as  the  vote  of 
a  town  was  counted  the  inspectors  should  send  the  ballots 
to  the  sheriff  of  the  county,  who  should  put  them  in  a 
box,  and,  when  every  town  in  the  county  had  been 
heard  from,  should  carry  the  box  to  Albany  and  deliver 
it  to  the  Secretary  of  State.  As  the  votes  in  the  east 
ern  and  southern  counties  were  announced  one  by  one, 
the  majority  for  Clinton  dwindled  till  it  stood  at  one 
hundred  and  eight,  with  two  strong  Jay  counties  to  be 
heard  from.  If  Clinton  was  not  to  be  defeated,  it  was 
clear  that  an  excuse  must  be  found  for  throwing  out 
the  returns  of  some  Federalist  county,  and,  happily  for 
the  Republicans,  an  opportunity  to  do  so  existed.  The 
box  from  Tioga  County,  which  contained  a  good  ma 
jority  for  Jay,  had  been  given  by  the  sheriff  to  his 
deputy  to  carry  to  Albany.  But  the  deputy  fell  sick 
by  the  way,  and  sent  the  box  on  by  a  sub-deputy  of  his 
own  appointment.  This  the  Clintonians  decided  was 


78  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

illegal,  and  insisted  that  the  vote  of  Tioga  should  not 
be  counted.  But  even  with  Tioga  left  out,  Jay  would 
have  a  majority  if  Otsego  was  counted. 

Now,  in  Otsego,  the  sheriff  had  been  appointed  in 
February,  1791,  to  serve  one  year,  and  just  before  the 
close  of  his  first  term  had  written  to  the  Council  of, 
Appointment  declining  a  second.  One  month  after  the 
end  of  his  year  a  successor  was  appointed,  but  had  not 
qualified  nor  acted  when  the  election  took  place.  In 
this  state  of  things  the  old  sheriff  continued  to  act,  and, 
gathering  up  the  ballots  cast  in  the  towns  of  his  county, 
sent  them  by  his  deputy  to  Albany.  Scarcely  had  he 
done  this  when  he  found  that  the  ballots  of  one  town 
had  been  left  out,  and  these  he  sent  wrapped  up  hi 
paper.  The  Clintonians,  availing  themselves  of  these 
irregularities,  insisted  that  the  returns  of  Otsego  should 
not  be  counted.  There  was,  in  the  first  place,  no  sheriff. 
In  the  second  place,  the  law  required  that  the  vote  of 
every  town  should  go  in  the  box ;  but  as  one  had  not 
gone  into  it,  all  the  others  must  be  lost.  To  this  the 
Federalists  made  an  elaborate  answer,  and  supported 
their  reasoning  by  the  published  opinion  of  eight  of  the 
most  distinguished  lawyers  then  practising  in  New 
York  city. 

The  votes,  after  being  received  by  the  Secretary  of 
State,  were  to  be  canvassed  by  a  joint  committee  of  six 
members  of  the  Senate  and  six  members  of  the  As 
sembly.  As  some  were  Federalists  and  some  Republi 
cans,  they  very  naturally  differed  as  to  receiving  and 
canvassing  the  votes  of  Otsego  and  Tioga,  and,  after 
many  stormy  sessions,  agreed  to  refer  the  whole  matter 
to  a  commission  consisting  of  the  United  States  sena 
tors  from  New  York,  Eufus  King  and  Aaron  Burr. 


THE  POLITICAL  DEPRAVITY  OF  THE  FATHERS.  79 

Colonel  Burr,  knowing  that  the  Clintonians  had  a  ma 
jority  of  the  canvassing  board,  proposed  to  give  no 
opinion.  But  when  King  declared  that  he  should  ad 
vise  the  canvassers  to  count  the  votes  of  Tioga  and  Ot- 
sego,  Burr  immediately  advised  them  not  to  do  so. 
Thus  left  to  themselves,  the  majority  rejected  the 
returns  from  the  two  counties  as  irregular,  and  declared 
Clinton  Governor. 

A  storm  of  indignation  swept  over  the  State.  The 
Federalists,  in  their  fury,  held  public  meetings,  de 
nounced  the  Governor  as  a  usurper,  declared  the  board 
of  canvassers  was  corrupt,  and  described  the  policy  of 
the  Republicans  as  Machiavellian.  But  when  the  next 
election  gave  them  the  House  and  Senate,  they  showed 
very  quickly  that  they  too  could  be  Machiavellian  when 
it  was  expedient.  By  the  Constitution  of  New  York 
as  it  then  was,  every  office  not  expressly  elective  was 
filled  by  appointments  made  by  a  board  of  five  men, 
known  as  the  Council  of  Appointment.  These  five 
men  were  the  Governor  and  four  senators  chosen  by 
the  Assembly,  one  from  each  group  of  six  senators 
from  the  four  senatorial  districts  into  which  E"ew  York 
was  divided.  As  the  elective  offices  were  confined  to 
the  Governor,  the  Lieutenant-Governor,  State  Treas 
urer,  members  of  the  Legislature,  and  congressmen, 
the  list  of  appointments  was  a  long  one,  and  included 
the  Secretary  of  State,  the  comptroller,  the  judges,  the 
Attorney-General,  the  clerks  of  the  courts,  the  sheriffs  of 
the  counties,  the  coroners,  the  mayors  of  the  cities,  the 
county  court  judges,  and  the  justices  of  the  peace.  In 
making  these  appointments  the  Governor  had  merely 
the  casting  vote ;  but  as  the  law  said  he  must  "  with 
the  advice  and  consent  of  the  said  Council  appoint  all 


80  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

the  said  officers,"  the  Governor  had  always  held  that  he 
alone  could  nominate.  While  the  Governor  and  the 
Council  were  of  the  same  political  stripe,  this  claim  was 
freely  allowed.  But  in  1794  the  revolt  against  Clinton 
made  the  Council  a  Federalist  body,  which  naturally 
declined  to  put  into  office  Republicans  named  by  the 
Governor,  and  for  the  first  time  in  its  history  the  mem 
bers  asserted  an  equal  right  to  nominate.  Clinton  pro 
tested,  and  the  matter  was  dropped,  to  come  up  again 
during  the  administration  of  John  Jay.  In  1795,  while 
Mr.  Jay  was  in  London,  where  he  had  just  concluded 
the  treaty  that  still  bears  his  name,  he  was  trium 
phantly  elected  Governor,  without  his  consent  and 
almost  without  his  knowledge,  and  was  re-elected  in 
1798.  But  the  Federalist  success  of  this  latter  year 
was  followed  by  the  sweeping  Democratic  victory  of 
1800,  and  in  1801  Jay  found  himself  in  a  condition 
similar  to  that  of  Clinton  in  1794 :  a  majority  of  his 
Council  of  Appointment  were  Democratic. 

This  was  no  trifling  matter,  for  in  February,  1801, 
the  civil  commissions  of  the  office-holders  in  eleven 
counties  and  of  the  mayors  of  four  cities  expired,  and 
it  may  well  be  believed  that  the  workers  in  the  vic 
torious  party  became  clamorous  for  their  rewards. 

The  Assembly  having  elected  the  Council,  the  Gov 
ernor  convened  it  in  February  to  fill  the  vacancies, 
and,  according  to  custom,  asserted  his  sole  right  to 
nominate.  But  at  the  board  sat  De  Witt  Clinton,  and, 
led  on  by  him,  the  Republicans  rejected  in  rapid  suc 
cession  eleven  of  the  Governor's  nominations,  refused 
to  vote  on  several  more,  and  then  began  to  make  nomi 
nations  of  their  own.  This  was  too  much  for  Jay,  who 
adjourned  the  Council,  and,  as  it  could  not  meet  un- 


THE  POLITICAL  DEPRAVITY  OF  THE  FATHERS.   81 

less  summoned  by  him,  the  places  went  unfilled.  Jay 
then  appealed  to  the  Legislature,  which  called  a  con 
vention,  that  amended  the  Constitution  and  gave  to 
each  member  a  right  to  nominate.  Thus  was  the  spoils 
system  introduced  into  New  York,  and  from  that  day 
a  'change  in  the  political  complexion  of  the  Council  of 
Appointment  was  sure  to  be  followed  by  a  proscription 
of  office-holders. 

But  it  is  to  Massachusetts  that  we  owe  the  introduc 
tion  of  the  most  infamous  piece  of  party  machinery 
this  century  has  produced.  In  1812  the  Jeffersonian 
Kepublicans  of  that  State  elected  not  only  a  Governor 
and  a  majority  of  the  House,  but,  after  years  of  per 
sistent  effort,  secured  control  of  the  Senate.  By  the 
Constitution  of  Massachusetts  it  was  decreed  that  the 
Senate  should  consist  of  forty  men,  chosen  annually 
from  such  districts  as  the  General  Court  should  mark 
out,  and  that  until  such  districts  were  created  the  sen 
ators  should  be  chosen  from  the  counties.  But  the 
General  Court  had  never  used  this  power,  and  the  tem 
porary  provision  that  each  county  should  be  a  senatorial 
district  became  in  time  an  established  usage,  with  all 
the  force  of  law.  This  usage,  however,  the  Repub 
licans  now  laid  violent  hands  on,  rearranged  the  dis 
tricts  without  regard  to  county  lines,  overcame  Feder 
alist  strongholds  by  connecting  them  to  Republican 
strongholds,  cut  "Worcester  County  in  two,  joined  Bris 
tol  and  Norfolk,  attached  some  of  the  towns  of  Suffolk 
to  those  of  Essex,  and  in  the  next  General  Court  had 
twenty -nine  senators  out  of  forty. 

The  story  is  told  that  a  map  of  the  Essex  senatorial 
district  was  hanging  on  the  office  wall  of  the  editor  of 
the  Columbian  Centinel  when  the  artist  Stuart  entered. 


82  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

Struck  by  the  peculiar  outline  of  the  towns  forming 
the  district,  he  added  a  head,  wings,  and  claws  with 
his  pencil,  and,  turning  to  the  editor,  said :  "  There, 
that  will  do  for  a  salamander."  "  Better  say  a  Gerry 
mander,"  returned  the  editor,  alluding  to  Elbridge 
Gerry,  the  Republican  Governor  who  had  signed  the 
districting  act.  However  this  may  be,  it  is  certain  that 
the  name  "gerrymander"  was  first  applied  to  the 
odious  law  in  the  columns  of  the  Centinel,  that  it  came 
rapidly  into  use,  and  has  remained  in  our  political  no 
menclature  ever  since.  Indeed,  a  huge  cut  of  the  mon 
ster  was  prepared,  and  the  next  year  was  scattered 
as  a  broadside  over  the  Commonwealth,  and  so  aroused 
the  people  that  in  the  spring  of  1813,  despite  the 
gerrymander,  the  Federalists  recovered  control  of 
the  Senate  and  repealed  the  law;  but  not  before  the 
progeny  of  the  monster  had  sprung  up  in  New  Jer 
sey. 

At  the  October  elections  in  1812  the  Federalists, 
with  the  aid  of  the  peace  party,  elected  a  majority  of 
both  branches  of  the  Legislature.  This  success  was 
quite  unexpected,  and,  greatly  elated  over  their  victory, 
they  proceeded  to  gather  its  fruits  when  the  Legislature 
met  a  few  weeks  later.  As  the  law  then  stood,  it  would 
become  the  duty  of  the  people  of  New  Jersey,  early  in 
November,  to  choose  eight  presidential  electors  by  a 
general  ticket,  a  manner  of  election  which  would  surely 
end  in  a. Republican  triumph,  for  the  party  majority  on 
a  State  vote  was  twenty -five  hundred.  But  the  Feder 
alists  were  determined  that  their  opponents  should  not 
triumph,  and  six  days  before  the  election  was  to  take 
place  they  repealed  the  old  law,  deprived  the  people  of 
a  vote,  gave  the  choice  of  presidential  electors  to  the 


THE  POLITICAL  DEPRAVITY  OF  THE  FATHERS.   83 

Legislature,  and,  when  the  time  came,  chose  eight  Fed 
eralist  electors. 

Their  next  act  was  to  gerrymander  the  congres 
sional  districts.  The  custom  so  familiar  to  us — the  cus 
tom  of  having  in  each  State  as  many  districts  as  the 
State  has  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives — 
was  not  then  in  general  use,  and  the  six  representa 
tives  from  New  Jersey  were  elected  by  a  general  ticket. 
Here  again  the  Eepublican  majority  in  the  State  in 
sured  a  Republican  delegation ;  but  it  was  overcome  on 
the  eve  of  election  by  a  bill  which  established  three 
congressional  districts,  with  boundaries  so  carefully 
marked  out  that  four  of  the  six  representatives  were 
secured  by  the  Federalists. 

In  New  York  the  district  system  had  long  been  in 
use.  But  the  apportionment  of  representation,  under 
the  census  of  1810,  made  a  redistricting  act.  necessary, 
and  the  Republicans  gladly  seized  the  opportunity  to 
apply  the  gerrymander.  Two  wards  of  New  York  city 
were  joined  to  Long  Island.  The  towns  of  Red  Hook, 
Rhinebeck,  and  Clinton  were  taken  out  of  Dutchess 
County  and  attached  to  the  county  of  Columbia,  and 
a  number  of  long,  rambling,  irregular  districts  were 
laid  out. 

The  bad  example  set  by  Massachusetts,  New  York, 
and  New  Jersey  was  soon  imitated  by  Maryland.  The 
opportunities  for  the  use  of  the  gerrymander  were  very 
limited,  for  the  House  of  Delegates  was  composed  of 
four  men  from  each  county  and  two  from  Annapolis 
and  Baltimore,  while  the  Senate  was  elected,  not  by 
the  people,  but  by  a  body  of  electors  chosen  in  each 
county  for  that  particular  purpose.  Presidential  elec 
tors,  however,  were  chosen  in  districts,  and  to  these,  in 


84:  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

order  to  get  a  Republican  elector,  the  gerrymander  was 
most  shamefully  applied.  Montgomery  County,  which 
lay  on  the  Potomac  River  and  touched  the  District  of 
Columbia,  was  cut  in  twain,  and  the  piece  which  was 
strongly  Federalist  was  joined  to  the  city  of  Baltimore, 
which  was  strongly  Republican,  by  a  long  and  narrow 
strip  of  territory  running  the  whole  length  of  the  county 
of  Anne  Arundel. 

We  have  said  that  Maryland  could  not  then  have 
been  gerrymandered  for  the  purpose  of  securing  State 
senators;  but  the  Federalists  now  proved  that  they 
might  be  elected  by  a  judicious  planting  of  colonies. 
Once  in  every  five  years  the  voters  of  each  county  met 
and  elected  two  men  to  be  electors  of  the  Senate.  The 
inhabitants  of  Baltimore  and  Annapolis  chose  one  for 
each  city.  The  men  so  selected  then  assembled  and 
proceeded  .to  elect  by  ballot,  either  from  their  own  body 
or  from  the  people  at  large,  fifteen  senators.  Now,  it 
so  happened  that  in  1816  the  Federalists  needed  but 
one  elector  in  order  to  control  the  College,  and  so  secure 
a  Federalist  State  Senate.  As  Annapolis  sent  one 
elector,  and  was  Republican  by  about  thirty  majority, 
they  decided  to  colonize  the  city,  and  for  this  purpose, 
during  the  last  days  of  February  and  the  first  weeks  of 
March,  1816,  they  hurried  in  bands  of  laborers  and 
mechanics  till  forty  men  in  all  had  arrived  and  put  up 
at  the  lodging-houses  and  the  tavern.  The  new-comers 
said  they  were  in  search  of  work.  But  when  it  was 
observed  that,  although  no  work  was  to  be  had,  they 
still  lingered,  paying  their  bills  and  showing  little  con 
cern  that  none  were  busy,  the  party  leaders  of  the  Re 
publicans  began  to  suspect  that  it  was  politics,  and  not 
work,  that  had  caused  this  singular  migration,  and  soon 


THE  POLITICAL  DEPRAVITY  OF  THE  FATHERS.   85 

unearthed  the  plot.  Indeed,  they  proved  that  the  pre 
tended  laborers  were  hired,  for  twenty  dollars  a  month 
and  their  board,  to  go  to  Annapolis,  acquire  residence, 
and  vote -the  Federalist  ticket.  Such  an  outburst  of 
indignation  followed  this  discovery  that  the  men  were 
discharged  and  the  attempt  was  abandoned. 

In  New  York,  meantime,  the  Republicans  had  stolen 
the  Assembly.  There  were,  in  1815,  one  hundred  and 
twenty-six  members  of  the  Assembly ;  but  so  close  had 
the  election  been  that  each  party  secured  sixty-three. 
Before  the  meeting  of  the  Assembly  one  Republican 
died,  another  went  abroad  for  his  health,  and  as  one 
Federalist  was  too  sick  to  attend,  the  numbers  of  the 
two  parties  became,  Federalist  sixty -two,  Republicans 
sixty -one.  It  happened,  however,  that  Mr.  Henry  Fel 
lows,  a  Federalist  of  Ontario  County  who  had  received 
seven  votes  more  than  Mr.  Allen,  had  been  refused  a 
certificate  of  election  by  the  county  clerk,  because  in 
the  town  of  Pennington  forty -nine  ballots  were  cast 
for  "  Hen.  Fellows  "  when  they  should  have  been  cast 
for  "  Henry  Fellows."  This  gave  the  Republicans  a 
majority  of  one,  and  they  openly  declared  that,  when 
the  Assembly  met,  they  would  elect  a  Speaker  and 
Council  of  Appointment  and  secure  the  patronage  of 
the  State,  an  announcement  which  so  incensed  the  Fed 
eralists  that  on  the  first  day  of  the  session  they  refused 
to  attend,  stayed  out  in  a  body,  and  prevented  a  quorum. 
On  the  second  day,  fearing  their  constituents  would  not 
approve  such  conduct,  all  were  present;  but,  despite 
every  effort  and  argument  they  could  make,  the  certifi 
cate  of  Allen  was  recognized  and  a  Republican  Speaker 
and  clerk  were  elected.  It  was  then  moved  to  expel 
Mr.  Allen  instanter.  But  the  Republicans  defeated  the 


86  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

motion,  and,  with  the  aid  of  Mr.  Allen's  vote  and  the 
casting  vote  of  the  Speaker,  chose  a  Republican  Coun 
cil  of  Appointment.  Having  thus  secured  the  patron 
age  of  the  State,  they  consented  to  examine  into  Mr. 

o  «/ 

Allen's  right  to  a  seat,  and  in  time,  by  a  unanimous 
vote,  unseated  him  and  gave  his  place  to  Mr.  Fellows. 
The  Federalist  members  of  the  Assembly  now  addressed 
the  voters  and  called  on  them  to  drive  from  power  the 
party  which  had  been  guilty  of  so  gross  a  fraud.  The 
voters,  unhappily,  were  as  depraved  as  their  represen 
tatives,  and  in  1816  the  Republicans  carried  the  Assem 
bly  by  a  large  majority. 


THE  EIOTOUS  CAREER  OF  THE 
KNOW-NOTHINGS. 

IT  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  no  student  of  our 
history  has  yet  seen  fit  to  place  before  his  countrymen 
as  truthful  and  impartial  a  biography  of  political  parties 
in  the  United  States  as  it  is  possible  for  an  honest  man 
to  write.  To  suppose  that  such  a  narrative  would  be 
dry  and  tedious  is  a  mistake,  for  it  would  be  the  story 
of  a  great  people  made  up  of  men  from  every  civilized 
race  and  land,  experimenting  in  self-government  on  a 
stupendous  scale,  and  dealing  with  moral,  social,  finan 
cial,  and  industrial  issues  of  the  gravest  importance. 
But  the  most  readable  part  would  be  the  account  of  the 
innumerable  third  parties  :  of  the  conditions  of  national 
life  from  which  they  sprang  ;  of  the  high  aims,  or  self 
ish  purposes,  or  impracticable  ends  they  sought  to  ac 
complish  ;  of  their  triumphs  ;  or,  as  has  so  often  been 
the  case,  their  quiet  and  ignominious  disappearance. 
They  have  been  the  expressive  features  of  our  political 
life,  and  have  reflected  every  gust  of  passion,  every  un 
reasonable  prejudice,  every  ennobling  purpose,  every 
patriotic  sentiment  that  has  appealed  strongly  to  the 
people.  Sometimes  the  membership  has  been  confined 
to  a  single  section  of  our  country,  as  was  that  of  the 
Anti -Masonic  party,  which  never  spread  beyond  the 
7  87 


88  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

New  England  belt  of  westward  emigration.  Sometimes 
they  have  had  followers  everywhere,  as  the  Greenback 
party  and  the  Populists  of  our  own  day.  Sometimes 
their  purpose  has  been  accomplished,  as  was  that  of  the 
Liberty  party,  the  Free  Soilers,  and  the  Abolitionists. 
Sometimes  their  purposes,  while  never  accomplished, 
have  never  been  abandoned,  and  they  have  periodically 
appeared  before  the  country  seeking  support.  Such  a 
one  is  that  party  which  under  many  names  and  at  many 
times  has  come  forward  as  the  defender  of  American 
institutions  when  endangered  by  the  presence  of  for 
eigners. 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  this  dread  of  the  naturalized  cit 
izen  has  never  been  wholly  absent  from  our  political  life, 
and  that  its  outbreaks  have  always  followed  periods  re 
markable  for  the  great  numbers  of  new-comers  to  our 
shores.  The  Irish  risings,  the  French  Kevolution,  the 
massacre  in  San  Domingo  and  the  establishment  of  the 
Negro  Eepublic,  drove  to  this  country,  during  the  last 
decade  of  the  eighteenth  century,  thousands  upon  thou 
sands  of  Frenchmen  and  Irishmen,  who,  availing  them 
selves  of  the  liberal  naturalization  laws,  became  citizens, 
and  entered  political  life  in  the  land  of  their  adoption. 
Those  were  the  days  when  the  franchise  was  most  re 
stricted  :  when  property  qualifications  and  religious 
qualifications  were  required  of  every  man  who  cast  a 
vote  or  held  an  office ;  when  an  elector  must  have  a 
freehold  estate  or  a  specified  amount  of  yearly  income, 
or  pay  a  certain  annual  rent ;  and  when  no  one  could 
be  a  governor,  or  a  judge,  or  a  member  of  the  Legisla 
ture  who  was  not  a  Christian  or  a  member  of  a  particu 
lar  Protestant  sect,  and  who  did  not  believe  in  the  Trin 
ity,  or  the  divine  inspiration  of  the  Testaments,  and  a 


THE  RIOTOUS  CAREER  OF  THE  KNOW-NOTHINGS.   89 

future  state  of  reward  and  punishment.  Yet,  in  spite 
of  these  limitations,  the  sudden  appearance  in  large  num 
bers  of  naturalized  citizens  to  whom  the  past  history  and 
traditions  of  the  country  were  as  nothing,  and  who  eager 
ly  supported  the  party  bent  on  overthrowing  the  Feder 
alists,  aroused  serious  alarm  for  the  safety  of  American 
institutions.  Then  for  the  first  time  fear  was  expressed 
that  the  founders  of  the  Republic  had  been  too  liberal ; 
that  it  was  not  safe  to  invest  the  new  citizen  so  early  in 
his  career  with  all  the  rights  of  the  native  ;  and  in  179 8 
the  term  of  residence  prior  to  naturalization  was  changed 
to  fourteen  years. 

The  Republicans,  who  secured  control  of  affairs  in 
1801,  repealed  this  law  and  reduced  the  term  to  five 
years,  and  a  whole  generation  passed  away  without  any 
further  signs  of  hostility  to  the  foreigner. 

Yet  this  same  party,  which  courted  and  invited  the 
man  from  abroad,  was  no  friend  to  the  institutions  he 
was  supposed  to  leave  behind  him,  and  again  and  again 
broke  out  into  open  hostility  to  them.  It  attempted  to 
drive  the  common  law  of  England  from  the  courts  ;  in 
three  States  it  succeeded  in  forbidding  any  case,  any  de 
cision,  any  law-book  decided  or  made  or  written  in  Eng 
land  since  the  Revolution,  to  be  cited  or  read  in  court ; 
it  expelled  the  mace  from  the  House  of  Representatives 
of  Pennsylvania  because  it  was  a  symbol  of  monarchy  ; 
and  it  sent  out  to  the  States  an  amendment  to  the  Fed 
eral  Constitution  which  forbade  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States  to  receive  any  title  of  nobility  or  honor,  or  ac 
cept  any  gift  or  office  from  an  emperor,  king,  prince,  or 
foreign  power,  under  penalty  of  loss  of  citizenship.  Had 
one  more  State  approved  the  proposed  amendment,  it 
would  have  become  law.  Indeed,  many  persons  thought 


90  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

it  was  law,  and  in  school-books  published  as  late  as  1860 
it  may  be  seen  at  the  end  of  the  Constitution  as  Article 
Thirteen  of  the  Amendments. 

Fortunately  the  period  during  which  this  feeling  was 
strongest  was  that  during  which  immigration  was  small 
est.  But  with  the  end  of  the  Napoleonic  wars  the  tide 
again  set  strongly  toward  America  ;  foreigners  came  to 
us  at  the  rate  of  twenty  thousand  a  year ;  and  with  their 
appearance  the  old  spirit  of  Native  Americanism  revived 
— a  spirit  which  many  new  causes  tended  to  intensify 
and  embitter.  Since  the  days  of  Washington  and  Adams 
the  franchise  had  been  greatly  extended ;  religious  quali 
fications  had  been  removed ;  property  qualifications  had 
been  abolished  or  reduced  ;  the  number  of  elective  of 
ficers  had  been  increased ;  the  free-school  system  had 
been  established  ;  and  the  power  of  the  naturalized  citi 
zens  greatly  enlarged,  for  they  settled  almost  entirely  in 
the  cities,  where  they  formed  a  class  by  themselves. 
Though  naturalized,  they  were  not  Americanized.  Our 
history,  our  principles,  our  welfare  concerned  them  not. 
The  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  Fourth  of  July, 
Bunker  Hill,  Evacuation  Day,  the  Constitution — were 
events  and  days  and  instruments  of  which  they  knew 
nothing,  and  for  which  they  cared  nothing.  They  cele 
brated  their  own  days,  spoke  their  own  language,  cast  a 
united  vote  in  behalf  of  whichever  party  would  buy  it 
at  the  highest  price  ;  and — what  was  far  more  offensive 
— were  all  members  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
which  was  looked  on  as  a  foreign  institution. 

The  Episcopal  Church  in  America  had  no  connec 
tion  with  the  Established  Church  of  England.  The 
Methodists,  the  Baptists,  the  Presbyterians  looked  up 
to  no  church-head  resident  beyond  the  sea.  But  every 


THE  RIOTOUS  CAREER  OF  THE  KNOW-NOTHINGS.  91 

Roman  Catholic — layman,  priest,  or  bishop — was  a  mem 
ber  of  a  great  church  hierarchy  whose  ruler  was  a  for 
eign  prince  claiming  and  exercising  both  spiritual  and 
temporal  jurisdiction.  That  a  people  who  could  not 
abide  the  common  law  of  England,  and  had  all  but  for 
bidden  an  American  citizen  to  receive  even  a  title  of 
honor  at  the  hands  of  a  foreign  ruler,  should  look  with 
alarm  on  the  rapid  increase  in  the  number  of  aliens 
strongly  attached  by  birth,  by  language,  and  by  religion 
to  monarchical  institutions,  is  not  surprising.  In  their 
eyes  this  sudden  and  steady  inflow  of  Catholics  was  not 
the  work  of  hard  times,  but  of  a  deliberate  and  well- 
planned  purpose  on  the  part  of  the  Catholic  powers  to 
destroy  the  free  institutions  of  America. 

Many  well-known  events  encouraged  and  strength 
ened  this  belief.  The  rise  of  the  Holy  Alliance ;  the 
hostility  which  it  showed  toward  Republican  institutions ; 
the  eagerness  with  which  it  stamped  out  popular  move 
ments  in  Naples  in  1820  and  in  Spain  in  1823  ;  the  de 
sire  of  the  Catholic  powers  to  reduce  the  revolted  prov 
inces  of  Spain  on  this  continent ;  and  especially  the 
recent  formation  of  the  St.  Leopold  Foundation  in  Aus 
tria,  and  the  revival  of  the  Order  of  the  Jesuits,  were 
all  cited  as  indisputable  evidence  of  the  hatred  felt  by 
foreign  governments — and  by  foreign  Roman  Catholic 
governments  in  particular — for  the  principles  of  free 
dom  and  the  rights  of  man.  Did  any  one  inquire  the 
cause  of  this  hostility,  he  was  instantly  referred  to  the 
lectures  delivered  in  1828  by  Frederick  Schlegel,  a  de 
vout  Roman  Catholic,  the  prof  oundest  of  German  schol 
ars,  the  friend  and  adviser  of  Metternich,  and  Counsel 
lor  of  Legation  in  the  Austrian  Cabinet.  In  the  course 
of  his  lectures  Schlegel  labored  to  prove  that  Protes- 


92  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

tantism  favored  democracy,  while  Popery  supported 
monarchy ;  that  the  political  revolutions  to  which  Eu 
ropean  governments  had  so  long  been  subject  were  the 
natura]  results  of  the  Reformation  ;  that  the  great  nur 
sery  of  these  destructive  principles — the  revolutionary 
school  for  France,  and  Spain,  and  all  of  Europe — was 
North  America ;  and  left  his  hearers  to  draw  the  con 
clusion  that  democracy  should  be  destroyed  in  America 
by  establishing  Catholic  missions.  When,  therefore,  at 
the  conclusion  of  his  lectures,  the  St.  Leopold  Founda 
tion  was  organized  in  Austria  and  spread  to  Hungary, 
Italy,  Piedmont,  Savoy,  and  France,  the  charge  was 
openly  made  that  its  purpose  was  to  build  up  the  power 
of  Rome  in  the  United  States  by  encouraging  the  emi 
gration  of  Roman  Catholics  from  Europe,  and  by  estab 
lishing  missions  in  the  various  States. 

To  this,  color  was  given  by  the  appearance  of 
Roman  Catholic  orders,  churches,  and  institutions  in 
places  where  within  the  memory  of  men  then  living  all 
such  things  had  been  proscribed.  Bishops,  cathedrals, 
sisters  of  charity,  sisters  of  mercy,  convents,  nunneries, 
colleges,  schools,  orphan  asylums,  and  newspapers  de 
voted  to  the  Church  of  Rome,  were  now  to  be  seen  in 
every  great  city  which  had  been  the  recipient  of  foreign 
emigration.  By  such  arguments,  supported  by  visible 
signs  of  the  presence  of  a  Church  whose  head  was 
crowned  and  owed  no  allegiance  to  the  United  States, 
the  Native- American  spirit,  which  by  1830  was  rising 
high  against  foreigners,  became  at  the  outset  closely 
allied  with  an  anti-Catholic  feeling,  and  the  two  have 
never  parted  company. 

The  decade  covered  by  the  'thirties  is  unique  in  our 
history.  Fifty  years  of  life  at  high  pressure  had 


THE  RIOTOUS  CAREER  OF  THE  KNOW-NOTHINGS.  93 

brought  the  people  to  a  state  of  excitement,  of  lawless 
ness,  of  mob  rule,  such  as  had  never  before  existed. 
Intolerance,  turbulence,  riot,  became  the  order  of  the 
clay.  Differences  of  opinion  ceased  to  be  respected. 
Appeals  were  made  not  to  reason  but  to  force ;  reforms, 
ideas,  institutions  that  were  not  liked  were  attacked  and 
put  down  by  violence ;  and  one  of  the  least  liked  and 
first  to  be  assaulted  was  the  Church  of  Koine.  In  1831 
St.  Mary's  Church  in  Sheriff  Street,  New  York,  was 
robbed  and  burned  by  incendiaries.  In  1833  Miss 
Eebecca  Eeed  fled  from  the  Ursuline  Convent  at 
Charlestown,  Mass.,  and  told  such  tales  that  when,  ill 
1834,  Sister  Mary  John  escaped  from  the  same  institu 
tion  in  a  dazed  and  hysterical  condition,  the  people  rose 
and  gave  the  convent  to  the  flames. 

With  these  deeds  of  violence  the  anti-Catholic  ex 
citement  seemed  to  go  down.  But  that  hostility  to 
foreigners  which  went  hand  in  hand  with  it  grew 
stronger  and  spread  wider  year  after  year.  The  stream 
of  immigrants  that  entered  New  York  city  every  twelve 
month  would  now  seem  small  indeed,  but  it  was  then 
thought  to  be  portentous.  From  thirty  thousand  in 
1830  the  number  grew  steadily  till  it  passed  sixty 
thousand  in  1836.  In  the  decade  between  1830  and 
1840  more  than  five  hundred  thousand  were  landed  at 
New  York  alone,  a  number  often  greatly  surpassed  in 
our  times  by  the  arrivals  in  one  year.  But  when  it  was 
asserted  that  one  white  person  in  every  twenty  of  the 
population  was  of  foreign  birth,  then  these  arrivals  be 
gan  to  assume  an  alarming  significance. 

Hurrying  westward,  the  new-comers  moved  into 
the  Mississippi  Valley  and  startled  the  men  of  the  new 
States  by  the  appearance  of  a  population  that  could 


94  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

neither  read,  write,  nor  speak  our  language.  In  Cin 
cinnati,  by  1840,  half  the  voters  were  of  foreign  birth. 
Twenty-eight  per  cent,  were  Germans,  sixteen  per  cent, 
were  English,  and  one  per  cent.  French  or  Italian.  In 
Dubuque  County,  Iowa,  the  natives  of  one  foreign  na 
tion  cast  one  third  of  all  the  votes  given  at  local  elec 
tions.  In  St.  Louis  and  in  New  Orleans  the  influence 
of  foreigners  was  felt  still  more,  and  from  the  men  of 
the  West  now  came  the  cry  that  they  were  being 
swamped  by  the  dregs  of  Europe;  that  their  institu 
tions,  their  liberties,  their  property  were  at  the  mercy 
of  voters  steeped  in  the  ignorance,  the  prejudices,  the 
vices  of  the  Old  World.  A  demand  was  now  made  for 
a  reform  in  the  naturalization  laws  and  the  extension 
of  the  term  of  residence  to  twenty-one  years.  But 
both  Whigs  and  Democrats,  in  their  platforms  and  in 
the  political  tracts,  indorsed  the  cause  of  the  immi 
grant,  and  the  question  became,  Shall  a  new  party  be 
founded  or  the  old  parties  reformed  ?  Here  and  there, 
as  at  Germantown  in  1837,  at  New  York  city,  and  in 
the  District  of  Columbia,  even  during  the  campaign  of 
1840,  symptoms  of  a  new  party  movement  were  visible. 
But  it  was  not  until  1841  that  the  people  of  Louisiana 
called  a  State  Convention  and  founded  the  American 
Republican  party,  or,  as  it  soon  came  to  be  called,  the 
Native- American  party.  From  that  Convention  issued 
an  address  urging  national  organization  for  the  protec 
tion  of  American  principles  and  the  exclusion  of  for 
eigners  from  office — a  piece  of  advice  which  found 
ready  listeners,  and  at  the  next  election  in  New  Orleans 
a  large  part  of  the  municipal  ticket  was  carried  by  the 
American  Republicans.  At  St.  Louis,  at  Lexington,  at 
Philadelphia,  and  at  New  York  the  interest  in  the 


THE  RIOTOUS  CAREER  OF  THE  KNOW-NOTHINGS.  05 

movement  grew  daily,  and  was  once  more  joined  with 
anti-Catholicism.   The  principles  of  the  new  party  were : 

1.  Extend  the  term  of  naturalization  to  twenty-one  years. 

2.  Nominate  no  man  to  office  who  is  not  a  native  born. 

3.  Guard  from  corruption  and  abuse  the  proceedings  necessary 
to  obtain  papers  of  naturalization. 

4.  Prevent  the  union  of  church  and  state. 

5.  Keep  the  Bible  in  the  schools. 

6.  Resist  the  encroachment  of  a  foreign  civil  and  spiritual 
power  upon  the  institutions  of  our  country. 

For  the  spread  of  these  sentiments  the  naturalized 
citizens — the  "  patented  citizens  "  as  they  now  were 
called — were  in  large  part  responsible.  No  oppor 
tunity  that  could  serve  to  remind  the  native  of  the 
presence  of  the  unassimilated  foreigner  was  suffered 
to  go  by  unused.  Laborers  combined  to  force  con 
tractors  to  employ  no  Americans.  Old- World  ven 
dettas  were  fought  out  in  our  streets,  and  Americans 
for  the  first  time  became  familiar  with  such  terms  as 
"Orangemen,"  "Kibbonmen,"  "  Corkonians,"  "Far- 
downs,"  and  with  such  airs  as  "  Croppies,  Lie  Down ! " 
and  "  Boyne  "Water."  Then  were  seen  the  harp  of 
Ireland  and  the  thistle  of  Scotland  glittering  on  the 
uniforms  of  troops  enrolled  by  law  among  the  citizen 
soldiery  of  the  United  States.  Then  were  made  those 
two  demands  of  the  Catholics  for  a  share  in  the  school 
funds,  and  for  the  exclusion  of  King  James's  Bible 
from  the  public  schools.  Then  were  seen  at  the  polls 
"  No  Catholic  Irish  Ticket ! "  and  on  the  fences  hand 
bills  headed  "Irishmen!  To  your  Posts!"  "Catho 
lics  !  Yote  for  Mr.  Lott ! "  "  Irishmen  and  all  Catholic 
Voters ! "  or,  in  one  instance,  the  cross,  and  under  it  the 
words  "  In  union  is  our  strength ! " 


96  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

In  a  community  excited  by  reminders  such  as  these, 
and  by  the  foolish  and  intemperate  appeals  and  abusive 
charges  made  by  the  press  of  both  parties,  some  local 
incident  was  all  that  was  needed  to  bring  about  the  in 
stant  union  of  the  natives,  and  this  incident  was  fur 
nished  by  the  political  leaders  in  New  York.  For 
years  past  the  elections  in  that  city  had  been  closely 
contested  by  the  Whigs  and  Democrats;  and  when, 
with  the  aid  of  the  Irish  vote,  the  Democrats  won  in 
1843  and  gave  a  large  proportion  of  the  patronage  to 
citizens  of  foreign  birth,  both  Whigs  and  Democrats 
bolted  their  party,  joined  with  the  feeble  American 
Republicans,  and  in  April,  1844,  chose  a  native  mayor 
and  board  of  aldermen.  Meantime  the  excitement  in 
New  York  spread  to  New  Jersey  and  to  Philadelphia, 
where  the  efforts  to  organize  a  party  produced  the 
dreadful  riots  of  May  and  July,  during  which  many 
lives  were  lost  and  many  churches  and  buildings 
burned — deeds  which  nothing  but  the  coolness  of  the 
leaders  prevented  from  being  repeated  in  New  York. 
In  both  cities  the  success  of  the  Americans  was  due 
to  a  determination  on  the  part  of  earnest  and  patriotic 
Democrats  to  punish  their  party.  The  punishment  in 
flicted,  they  went  back  to  their  allegiance,  elected  a  Dem 
ocratic  mayor  of  New  York  in  1845,  and,  after  enabling 
the  Americans  to  send  six  representatives  to  the  Twenty- 
ninth  Congress,  so  weakened  the  party  by  their  deser 
tion  before  1846  that  but  one  American  Republican 
sat  in  the  Thirtieth  Congress,  and  he  came  from  Penn 
sylvania.  In  1847  such  districts  as  still  maintained  an 
organization  went  through  the  form  of  sending  dele 
gates  to  a  national  convention  which  met  at  Pittsburg 
in  February,  and,  after  nominating  a  Yice -President, 


THE  RIOTOUS  CAREER  OF  THE  KNOW-NOTHINGS.  97 

recommended  Zacliary  Taylor  for  President.  The 
campaign  which  followed  served  but  to  exhibit  their 
weakness,  and  in  the  Thirty-first  Congress  not  one 
American  Republican  found  a  seat. 

For  the  moment  the  excitement  seemed  over.  The 
great  issues  raised  by  the  Mexican  War ;  the  attempt 
to  extend  slavery  into  the  Territories ;  the  split  which 
the  Wilmot  Proviso  produced  in  both  the  Whig  and 
Democratic  parties ;  the  discovery  of  gold,  and  the  rush 
to  California ;  the  Free-Soil  movement,  and  the  intense 
excitement  which  went  before  and  followed  the  Com 
promise  of  1850 — dwarfed  all  other  issues.  The  result 
of  that  Compromise  and  the  deaths  of  Clay  and  Web 
ster  in  1852,  and  the  crushing  defeat  of  Scott  at  the 
polls,  kid  the  Whigs  prostrate ;  and  in  their  efforts  to 
reorganize  they  called  in  the  aid  of  what  was  left  of  the 
American  Eepublicans,  to  whom  a  new  series  of  events 
had  given  renewed  life. 

The  political  disturbances  in  Europe  from  1848  to 
1850,  and  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California,  once  more 
turned  the  stream  of  emigration  westward  and  poured 
such  a  volume  of  foreigners  into  the  Eastern  cities  as 
had  never  been  known.  Almost  as  many  now  came  in 
three  years  as  had  ever  at  any  previous  time  arrived  in 
ten  years.  From  1840  to  1850  the  sum  total  of  arrivals 
was  one  million  five  hundred  thousand.  But  in  1851,  six 
hundred  thousand  ;  in  1852,  three  hundred  and  eighty 
thousand ;  and  in  1853,  three  hundred  and  seventy  thou 
sand  foreigners  entered  the  United  States.  The  old 
feeling  of  dread  revived,  and  the  natives  once  more  joined 
the  anti- Catholic  party  and  some  time,  and  somewhere 
in  New  York  city,  in  1852  founded  a  secret  oath-bound 
association  which  spread  over  the  country  like  wildfire. 


98  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

The  state  of  affairs  was  ripe  for  such  a  growth.  In 
the  first  place,  the  fugitive-slave  law,  and  the  man- 
hunting,  mobbing,  and  rioting  it  produced,  had  de 
stroyed  the  Whig  and  badly  injured  the  Democratic 
organizations,  and  had  released  thousands  of  voters 
from  all  allegiance  to  party.  In  the  next  place,  the 
anti-Catholic  feeling  had  never  been  suffered  to  sub 
side.  The  "  awful  disclosures  "  in  1845  concerning  the 
imprisonment  of  Edward  Wilson  in  a  religious  institu 
tion  at  Cincinnati;  the  founding  of  a  "No-Popery" 
newspaper  named  The  North  American  Protestant  in 
1846  ;  the  so-called  disclosures  and  lectures  on  auricular 
confession  by  Giustiniani — did  their  work  so  thoroughly 
that  from  1846  to  1852  many  an  aspirant  for  office  was 
called  on  to  purge  himself  of  the  accusation  of  hostility 
to  Catholics.  The  charges  made  by  the  Democrats 
against  Scott  in  1852,  that  he  had  been  an  American 
Republican  in  1841 ;  that  in  1840  he  had  taken  part  in 
the  attempt  made  at  the  Astor  House  in  New  York  to 
found  a  Native- American  party ;  and  that  neither  in 
1844  nor  in  1848  had  he  been  a  friend  of  Catholics — 
were  among  the  most  serious  that  his  supporters  had  to 
answer,  were  the  subject  of  elaborate  pamphlets,  and 
cost  him  the  vote  of  many  a  Whig  State.  No  task  was 
found  harder  by  the  Democrats  than  to  explain  why 
New  Hampshire,  the  native  State  of  Pierce,  would  not 
amend  her  Constitution  and  admit  Catholics  to  office. 

In  the  next  place,  the  arrival  of  Father  Gavazzi,  an 
apostate  Barnabite  monk,  marked  the  beginning  of  a 
new  anti-papal  crusade.  He  described  the  priests  as 
given  to  every  form  of  low  debauchery ;  he  declared 
that  sisters  of  charity  were  prostitutes  the  world  over, 
and  declared  that  parents  who  sent  their  daughters  to  a 


THE  RIOTOUS  CAREER  OF  THE  KNOW-NOTHINGS.  99 

convent  sent  them  to  a  brothel.  Under  his  influence 
street  preaching  was  revived,  and  by  1854  there  was  no 
city  of  any  importance  but  had  an  anti-popery  preacher 
holding  forth  from  curbstones  and  barrel-tops.  That 
those  denounced  should  turn  upon  the  traducer  was  no 
more  than  human,  and  a  new  era  of  mob  violence  opened 
— in  Boston,  in  New  York,  in  Pittsburg,  in  Cincinnati, 
in  Louisville,  in  Baltimore — directly  due  to  the  anti- 
popery  preachers. 

That  nothing  might  be  wanting  to  increase  the  ex 
citement,  the  Papal  Nuncio,  Mgr.  Gaetano  Bedini, 
landed  at  New  York  in  the  autumn  of  1853  and  gave 
a  new  opportunity  to  Gavazzi  to  stir  up  hatred  and 
strife.  The  apostate  priest,  putting  himself  at  the  head 
of  the  movement  against  Bedini,  travelled  the  country 
over,  making  charges  no  rational  man  ever  for  a  mo 
ment  believed,  and  which  were  soon  proved  to  be  ut 
terly  false.  But  the  people  were  in  no  frame  of  mind 
to  be  reasoned  with ;  the  priest  was  believed,  and  the 
Nuncio  was  insulted,  abused,  mobbed,  burned  in  effigy, 
and  threatened  with  assassination.  As  he  travelled 
westward  the  excitement  grew  more  and  more  intense, 
and,  when  Cincinnati  was  reached,  became  so  great  that 
the  militia  were  called  out  to  keep  order.  A  howling 
mob  two  thousand  strong  paraded  the  streets,  carrying 
transparencies  inscribed  "  No  Priests !  No  Kings !  No 
Popery!"  "Down  with  Bedini!"  and  when,  as  they 
drew  near  the  home  of  the  Archbishop,  the  police  at 
tempted  to  interfere,  a  running  fight  began. 

To  the  northward  and  eastward  the  agitation  was 
carried  on  by  a  street  preacher  who  called  himself  the 
"  Angel  Gabriel."  He  began  his  career  in  the  streets 
of  Boston,  holding  forth  against  popes,  priests,  nuns, 


100  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

and  Catholics  generally,  and  so  excited  a  crowd  that 
heard  him  one  night  in  May,  1854,  that  it  attacked  the 
Irish  settlement  at  Chelsea  and  the  Bellingham  Catholic 
Church,  and  set  an  example  that  was  followed  wher 
ever  he  went.  In  June  the  Catholic  church  at  Coburg 
was  burned ;  on  July  third  an  armed  mob  attacked  the 
Irish  quarter  of  Manchester,  N.  H.,  and  expelled  a 
peaceful  population.  On  July  fourth  the  Catholic 
church  at  Dorchester  was  blown  up  by  gunpowder,  and 
on  the  fifth  the  "  Angel  Gabriel,"  by  preaching,  caused 
the  sacking  and  destruction  of  the  Catholic  church  at 
Bath.  But  the  list  is  too  long  to  complete.  It  is  enough 
to  know  that  such  was  the  state  of  the  public  mind 
when  "  The  Supreme  Order  of  the  Star-Spangled  Ban 
ner"  began  its  invisible,  resistless,  mysterious  career. 
It  was  a  network  of  local  secret  associations  or  councils, 
whose  members  were  bound  together  by  secret  oaths, 
and  recognized  one  another  by  signs,  grips,  and  pass 
words.  The  councils  of  each  State  were  arranged  in 
four  degrees,  and  over  these  degrees  presided  a  Grand 
Council  of  the  United  States  of  E"orth  America,  with 
its  President,  its  Yice-President,  Secretaries,  Inside  Sen 
tinel,  Outside  Sentinel,  and  Chaplain.  Every  member 
of  a  council  was  required  to  be  twenty -one  years  old, 
to  believe  in  the  existence  of  a  God,  and  to  obey  with 
out  question  the  will  of  the  Order.  Highly  organized, 
thoroughly  in  earnest,  it  did  its  work  with  a  precision 
of  movement  and  a  concert  of  action  hitherto  unknown 
in  American  politics.  Its  nominations  were  made  by 
secret  conventions  of  delegates  from  the  various  lodges 
in  the  city  or  the  district  the  candidate  was  to  repre 
sent  ;  they  were  generally  of  the  best  men  irrespective 
of  party,  and  were  voted  for  by  the  members  of  the 


THE  RIOTOUS  CAREER  OF  THE  KNOW-NOTHINGS.  1Q1 

Order  under  penalty  of  expulsion.  No  public  indorse 
ment  was  ever  made ;  but  the  result,  when  viewed  the 
day  after  the  election,  left  no  doubt  that  a  powerful 
secret  body  of  voters  was  at  work  defeating  the  schemes 
and  setting  at  naught  the  calculations  of  the  politicians. 

To  the  old  party  leaders  the  situation  was  embar 
rassing,  and  became  most  serious  when  in  1854  the 
Kansas-Nebraska  bill  split  the  Northern  Whigs  and 
sent  those  who  opposed,  not  slavery,  but  slavery  in  the 
Territories  (and  who  could  not  therefore  join  either  the 
Democrats  or  Eepublicans),  into  the  ranks  of  the  new 
and  secretly  working  party.  The  charm  of  mystery 
brought  others,  and  in  1854  the  accession  of  voters  was 
believed  to  be  five  thousand  a  week.  With  them  went 
in  that  element  which  was  at  once  the  strength  and  the 
weakness  of  the  party ;  for  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
the  new-comers  had  no  sympathy  with  the  movement 
against  the  Catholics,  and,  after  contributing  to  success 
at  many  an  election,  split  off  and  formed  a  wing  derided 
as  the  "  Mountain  Sweets." 

At  first  all  was  harmony,  and  in  1854  the  new  Na 
tive-American  party  carried  the  elections  in  Massa 
chusetts  and  Delaware,  and  in  New  York  State  secured 
some  congressmen  and  polled  122,282  votes.  By  this 
time  the  party  had  thrown  off  much  of  its  secrecy. 
The  name  of  the  Order  had  been  discovered.  Its  se 
cret  alphabet  was  known.  It  did  not  hesitate  to  in 
dorse  men  and  to  put  forth  candidates  of  its  own.  The 
meeting  places  of  its  councils  were  no  longer  concealed, 
and  it  had  received  from  its  opponents  the  popular 
name  of  Know-Nothings.  It  is  said  that  the  true  name 
and  purpose  of  the  Order  were  known  to  none  save 
those  who  reached  the  highest  degree;  and  that,  as 


102  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

members  of  the  lower  degrees,  when  questioned  about 
their  party,  always  answered,  "  I  don't  know,"  the  nick 
name  "  Know-Nothings  "  was  given  it,  and  at  once  ac 
cepted.  But  its  avowed  purposes  were  well  known, 
and  in  the  Know-Nothing  almanacs  of  1855  were  de 
clared  to  be — 

anti-Romanism,  anti-Bedinism,  anti-Papistalisin,  anti-Nunnery- 
ism,  anti- Winking- Virginism,  anti-Jesuitism.  Know-Nothingism 
is  for  light,  liberty,  education,  and  absolute  freedom  of  con 
science,  with  a  strong  dash  of  devotion  to  one's  native  soil. 

As  described  in  more  sober  and  responsible  publica 
tions,  the  Know-Nothing  was  a  man  who  opposed  not 
Romanism,  but  political  Romanism ;  who  insisted  that 
all  church  property  of  every  sect  should  be  taxed ;  and 
that  no  foreigner  under  any  name — bishop,  pastor, 
rector,  priest — appointed  by  any  foreign  ecclesiastical 
authority,  should  have  control  of  any  property,  church, 
or  school  in  the  United  States ;  who  demanded  that  no 
foreigner  should  hold  office;  that  there  should  be  a 
common-school  system  on  strictly  American  principles  ; 
that  no  citizen  of  foreign  birth  should  ever  enjoy  all 
the  rights  of  those  who  were  native-born;  and  that 
even  children  of  foreigners  born  on  the  soil  should  not 
have  full  rights  unless  trained  and  educated  in  the 
common  schools. 

These  were  the  principles  which  appealed  to  the  South. 
That  great  section  of  our  country  was  almost  without  a 
foreign-born  population,  was  full  of  nativist  feeling  in 
its  best  form,  and  when,  in  1854,  the  Whig  party  was 
wrecked  by  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill,  the  remnant  of  it 
in  the  South  turned  willingly  to  its  Native  Americans. 
So  strengthened,  the  new  party  in  the  elections  of  1855 


THE  RIOTOUS  CAREER  OF  THE  KNOW-NOTHINGS.  103 

secured  the  Land  Commissioner  of  Texas,  the  Legisla 
ture  and  Comptroller  of  Maryland,  and  all  but  cariied 
the  States  of  Virginia,  Georgia,  Alabama,  Mississippi, 
Louisiana,  and  Texas.  In  the  North  the  triumph  was 
complete,  and  the  governors  and  legislatures  of  New 
Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut, 
New  York,  California,  and  Kentucky  were  Know- 
Nothings.  That  this  victory  in  the  North  was  largely 
due  to  a  great  uprising  against  Catholicism  is  beyond 
dispute.  The  demand  for  a  part  of  the  school  funds 
for  the  purpose  of  supporting  Catholic  schools;  the 
vast  accumulation  of  property  by  the  Church,  and  the 
peculiar  manner  of  holding  it;  the  ease  with  which 
church  legislation  was  secured;  and  the  long  contro 
versy  between  Senator  Brooks,  of  New  York  and  "  John, 
Archbishop  of  the  Province  of  New  York,"  went  far 
to  arouse  even  the  cool-minded.  "Who  gave  John 
Hughes  this  title  ? "  it  was  asked ;  "  Who  was  it  that 
had  so  kindly  marked  out  the  'Province  of  New 
York '  ?  "—who  but  the  Pope  and  "  King  of  the  States 
of  the  Church "  ?  and  "  Is  not  this  just  the  course  to 
make  America  another  State  of  the  Church  ? "  As  the 
time  was  one  of  intense  political  excitement  over  Kan 
sas,  over  slavery,  over  the  fugitive-slave  law,  over  the 
attempt  to  secure  Cuba,  the  elections  were  attended  by 
Know-Nothing  riots,  in  which  life  and  property  were 
destroyed.  But  it  was  an  age  of  riot,  and  what  was 
then  done  to  Catholics  and  their  churches  was  no  more 
than  many  a  Catholic  had  been  doing  for  years  past  to 
Abolitionists  and  Free-Soilers,  or  than  foreign-born 
citizens  have  in  our  day  done  to  Chinamen. 

The  success  at  the  elections  in  1855  encouraged  the 
Grand  Council  to  prepare  the  Order  to  enter  the  presi- 


104  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

dential  campaign  of  1856  as  a  national  party.  A  secret 
meeting  was  accordingly  held  at  Philadelphia  in  Feb 
ruary,  and  there  the  first  and  only  native  platform  of  the 
Know-Nothings  was  adopted.  Horace  Greeley  had  de 
scribed  them  as  possessing  about  "  as  many  elements  of 
persistence  as  an  anti-cholera  or  anti-potato-rot  party 
would  have,"  and  the  proceedings  of  that  one  Conven 
tion  proved  that  his  description  was  correct.  Into  it 
had  by  this  time  been  drawn  men  of  every  shade  of 
opinion  on  every  question  of  the  day,  and  to  frame  such 
a  platform  as  would  satisfy  these  was  hopeless.  As 
presented  by  the  Grand  Council  and  adopted  by  the 
Convention,  the  platform  declared  the  following  prin 
ciples  : 

3.  Americans  must  rule  America ;  and  to  this  end  native-born 
citizens  should  be  selected  for  all  State,  Federal,  and  municipal 
offices  of  Government  employment  in  preference  to  all  others. 

5.  No  person  should  be  selected  for  political  station  who  rec 
ognizes  any  allegiance  or  obligation  of  any  description  to  any 
foreign  prince,  potentate,  or  power. 

6.  The  unqualified  recognition   and  maintenance  of  the  re 
served  rights  of  the  several  States  .  .  .  and  to  this  end  the  non 
interference  by  Congress  with  questions  appertaining  solely  to 
the  individual  States. 

7.  The  recognition  of  the  right  of  native-born  and  naturalized 
citizens  of  the  United  States,  permanently  residing  in  any  Terri 
tory  thereof,  to  frame  their  constitution  and  laws. 

9.  A  change  in  the  laws  of  naturalization,  making  a  continued 
residence  of  twenty-one  years  an  indispensable  requisite  for  citi 
zenship. 

10.  Opposition  to  any  union  between  church  and  state ;  no 
interference  with  religious  faith  or  worship;  and  no  test-oath 
for  office. 

12.  The  maintenance  and  enforcement  of  laws  constitutionally 
enacted  until  said  laws  shall  be  repealed  or  declared  null  and 
void  by  judicial  authority. 


THE  RIOTOUS  CAREER  OF  THE  KNOW-NOTHINGS.  105 

The  third,  seventh,  and  ninth  planks  were  put  in  to 
please  the  old-time  Nati ve- Americans ;  the  fifth  and 
tenth  were  for  the  anti-Catholics ;  the  sixth  and  twelfth, 
which  related  to  the  enforcement  of  the  fugitive-slave 
law,  were  to  satisfy  the  South;  the  seventh,  and  a 
hearty  condemnation  of  the  President  and  the  Kansas 
Bill,  it  was  expected  would  win  votes  in  the  North.  In 
reality  it  pleased  no  one,  and  after  a  short  struggle  fifty 
"  North- American  "  delegates,  from  seven  free  States, 
quit  the  Convention,  which  then  nominated  Millard  Fill- 
more  and  Andrew  Jackson  Done! son.  The  Whigs,  a 
few  months  later,  indorsed  the  nominees.  But  it  was 
too  late :  a  wave  of  Republicanism  was  sweeping  east 
ward  from  the  Northwest,  and  in  November,  1856, 
swept  Know-Nothingism  out  of  the  North.  In  a  pop 
ular  vote  of  4,053,967,  the  American  party  cast  but 
874,534 ;  of  296  electors  it  secured  but  eight,  and  sent 
but  twenty  representatives  and  five  senators  to  Con 
gress.  In  1858  it  suffered  still  more,  and  to  the  Con 
gress  which  met  in  December,  1859,  not  one  Native- 
American  came  from  any  State  north  of  the  Potomac 
and  the  Ohio  save  Maryland.  There  it  was  still  an 
anti-Catholic  party,  and  in  Baltimore,  drawing  to  itself 
all  the  ruffians,  "  plug-uglies,''  and  "  tigers,"  held  the 
polls,  and  for  three  years  gave  such  an  exhibition  of 
lawlessness  as  can  be  found  in  the  history  of  no  other 
city. 

A  lingering  trace  of  the  Know-Nothings  is  to  be 
seen  in  the  Constitutional  party  of  1860,  and  in  those 
secret,  oath-bound  Ku-Klux-Klan  and  White-Cap  or 
ganizations  which  have  terrorized  the  South  since  re 
construction  days.  But  it  has  been  reserved  for  the 
present  to  witness  a  true  revival  of  the  American  Prot- 


106  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

estant  Association  of  1840  in  the  American  Protective 
Association  of  1894,  with  the  secret  methods  of  the 
Know-Nothings  thrown  in.  Never  was  the  name 
"  American  "  more  misapplied.  Such  parties  and  such 
methods  are  wholly  foreign.  They  belong  to  the  days 
of  the  Inquisition,  the  Star  Chamber,  the  Bastille,  and 
the  poisoned  flower ;  not  to  the  close  of  the  nineteenth 
century  in  America. 


THE  FEAMERS  AND  THE  FRAMING 
OF  THE  CONSTITUTION. 

ON  the  eleventh  of  June,  1776,  the  Continental  Con 
gress,  then  sitting  at  Philadelphia,  chose  two  committees 
to  perform  two  pieces  of  important  work.  One  was  to 
draw  a  declaration  of  independence  ;  the  other  was  to 
frame  articles  of  perpetual  union.  The  Committee  on 
the  Declaration  finished  their  work  and  gave  it  to  the 
world  on  July  fourth,  1776  ;  the  Committee  on  Articles 
of  Confederation  reported  a  plan  four  days  later ;  but 
it  was  not  till  March  first,  1781,  that  the  articles  were 
finally  adopted. 

The  government  that  went  into  effect  on  that  day 
was  bad  from  beginning  to  end.  There  was  no  execu 
tive,  no  judiciary,  and  only  the  likeness  of  a  legislature. 
Congress  consisted  of  one  House  presided  over  by  a  presi 
dent  chosen  each  year  by  the  delegates  from  among  their 
number.  The  delegates  could  not  be  more  than  seven 
nor  less  than  two  from  any  State,  were  elected  yearly, 
and  could  serve  but  three  years  in  any  term  of  six.  On 
the  floor  of  Congress  all  voting  was  done  by  States,  and 
the  assent  of  nine  was  necessary  to  declare  war,  to  make 
peace,  to  coin  money,  to  pass  any  ordinance  of  the  least 
importance.  To  such  trivial  questions  as  came  up  from 
day  to  day — when  should  the  House  rise  ;  who  should 

107 


108  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

be  geographer  for  the  next  year  ? — the  assent  of  the  ma 
jority  of  the  States  was  enough,  and  it  was  a  white  day 
whereon  six  did  not  make  a  majority. 

To  this  body  the  States  had  given  a  few  powers,  and 
had  given  them  grudgingly  as  of  necessity.  Congress 
had  power  to  declare  war,  make  peace,  issue  bills  of 
credit,  keep  up  a  navy  and  army,  contract  debts,  enter 
into  treaties  of  commerce  and  alliance,  and  settle  dis 
putes  between  the  members  of  the  confederation.  But 
it  could  not  enforce  a  treaty  nor  a  law  when  made,  nor 
impose  any  restriction  on  commerce,  nor  lay  a  tax  of 
any  kind  for  the  purpose  of  raising  a  revenue.  Bad  as 
the  articles  were,  they  were  made  worse  yet  by  the  pro 
vision  that  to  amend  them  required  the  consent  of  each 
one  of  the  thirteen  members  of  the  Union. 

The  evils  of  this  system  were  not  slow  to  appear. 
Acting  on  States,  and  not  on  individuals,  Congress  never 
secured  a  hold  on  the  people,  was  always  looked  on  as 
a  revolutionary  body,  and  was  treated,  first  with  indif 
ference,  and  then  with  contempt. 

The  large  vote  needed  to  pass  a  weighty  measure 
often  made  it  impossible  to  legislate  at  all.  Two  States, 
Georgia  and  Rhode  Island,  were  seldom  represented. 
Of  the  eleven  others,  more  than  eight  were  rarely  pres 
ent,  and  Congress  was  thus  forced  to  adjourn  again  and 
again  for  want  of  a  quorum.  Repeatedly  these  adjourn 
ments  covered  a  space  of  thirteen  consecutive  days.  As 
nine  of  the  eleven  States  had  but  two  delegates  each,  the 
powers  of  Congress  passed  into  the  hands  of  three  men, 
who,  by  their  negative  votes,  could  defeat  any  measure 
requiring  the  assent  of  nine. 

Lacking  power  to  enforce  its  acts,  Congress  made 
treaties  which  the  States  set  at  naught,  called  for  money 


FRAMING  THE  CONSTITUTION.  1Q9 

which  the  States  never  paid,  and  saw  article  after  arti 
cle  of  the  confederation  broken  in  the  most  defiant  way. 
The  States  were  forbidden  to  wage  war  and  make  trea 
ties.  Yet  Georgia  waged  war  and  made  a  treaty  with 
the  Creeks.  The  States  were  forbidden  to  keep  troops 
in  time  of  peace.  Yet  Pennsylvania  sent  troops  that 
drove  the  Connecticut  settlers  from  the  valley  of  Wyo 
ming  ;  Massachusetts  raised  an  army  and  put  down 
Shays' s  rebellion.  The  States  were  forbidden  to  enter 
into  compacts.  Yet  Maryland  and  Virginia  made  a 
compact.  Indeed,  Congress  itself  was  more  than  once 
driven  to  exercise  powers  to  which,  by  the  articles,  it 
had  no  right  whatever. 

Having  no  power  to  manage  trade,  Congress  could 
not,  by  commercial  restrictions,  force  Great  Britain  to 
enter  into  a  trade  treaty.  British  goods  came  over  in 
immense  quantities,  the  balance  of  trade  turned  against 
us,  and,  to  settle  the  balance,  the  coin  of  the  country 
went  over  to  England  in  boxes  and  barrels.  The  States, 
deprived  of  a  circulating  medium,  put  out  paper  money ; 
with  paper  money  came  tender  laws  and  force  acts,  and 
in  Massachusetts  open  rebellion  against  the  Common 
wealth. 

Many  of  these  evils  had  long  been  felt.  Indeed,  the 
Articles  of  Confederation  were  not  in  force  before  it 
was  proposed  to  amend  them.  The  Hartford  Conven 
tion  of  1780  urged  -the  States  to  suffer  Congress  to  tax 
them  according  to  population  and  spend  the  revenue  so 
raised  in  paying  the  interest  on  the  public  debt.  Con 
gress  accordingly  asked  for  such  an  amendment,  and 
twelve  States  consented.  But  Rhode  Island  would  not, 
and  it  failed.  Again  a  little  while  and  Congress  asked 
for  specific  duties  and  a  permanent  revenue,  and  again 


110  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

twelve  States  consented.  But  this  time  New  York  stood 
out,  and  the  second  proposed  amendment  was  a  failure. 
At  last,  made  desperate,  Congress  asked  for  power  to 
regulate  trade  for  twenty-five  years.  Once  more  twelve 
States  consented.  Once  more  New  York  refused.  Once 
more  the  attempt  to  amend  the  articles  was  a  failure. 
Then,  every  other  means  having  been  tried,  Congress 
approved  the  call  already  sent  out  for  a  Convention  of 
the  States  at  Philadelphia. 

Such  a  Convention  had  twice  been  asked  for.  New 
York  wanted  one  in  1782  ;  Massachusetts  was  equally 
eager  in  1785.  But  the  origin  of  the  Constitutional 
Convention  of  1787  goes  back  to  the  action  of  a  joint 
commission  which  sat  at  Mount  Vernon  in  March,  1785. 
There  were  then  no  concerted  regulations  between 
Maryland  and  Virginia  touching  the  jurisdiction  and 
navigation  of  Chesapeake  Bay  and  the  Potomac  River. 
Trouble  had  arisen  in  consequence,  and  the  commission 
had  been  chosen  to  frame  a  compact  that  would  serve 
as  a  remedy.  But  they  had  not  been  very  long  at  work 
when  they  saw  that  common  duties  and  common  prin 
ciples  for  explaining  the  meaning  of  commercial  laws 
and  settling  disputes  about  the  currency  were  just  as 
necessary  as  well-defined  rights  on  the  river  and  bay. 
With  these  things,  however,  the  commissioners  had  no 
right  to  meddle.  Yet  they  ventured  to  draw  up  a  sup 
plementary  report  setting  forth  the  need  of  legislation 
on  the  currency,  the  duties,  and  commerce  in  general, 
and  urging  the  appointment  each  year  of  two  commis 
sioners  to  arrange  such  matters  for  the  next  year. 

Maryland  readily  accepted  the  report,  and  asked 
Delaware  and  Pennsylvania  to  come  into  the  scheme. 
But  Virginia  went  further,  and  asked  all  the  States  to 


FRAMING  THE  CONSTITUTION. 

a  trade  Convention  at  Annapolis  in  September,  1786. 
New  York  and  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware, 
and  Virginia  alone  attended,  spent  two  days  in  discuss 
ing  the  low  state  of  trade  and  commerce,  in  lamenting 
their  want  of  powers,  and  then  called  a  new  Convention, 
to  meet  at  Philadelphia  in  May,  1787.  This  was  the 
call  that  Congress  approved  in  February,  1787 ;  and  it 
was  high  time,  for  seven  States  had  already  chosen  dele 
gates. 

Virginia  was  first  to  act,  and  sent  up  her  seven  most 
noted  citizens.  Jefferson  was  then  Minister  to  France ; 
Patrick  Henry  and  Richard  Henry  Lee  would  not 
serve ;  but  in  their  places  came  George  Washington 
and  James  Madison,  Edmund  Randolph,  the  Governor, 
George  Mason,  George  Wythe,  John  Blair,  and  James 
McClurg,  a  professor  in  William  and  Mary  College. 

New  Jersey  came  next,  and  on  November  twenty- 
third  chose  William  Livingston,  eleven  times  her  Gov 
ernor  ;  William  Paterson,  ten  times  her  Attorney- Gen 
eral  ;  David  Brearley,  her  Chief -Justice,  and  William 
Houston,  her  delegate  to  Congress.  Houston  fell  sick, 
and  Jonathan  Dayton  took  his  place.  Scarce  a  month 
went  by  but  the  name  of  some  State  was  added  to  the 
list.  In  December  came  Pennsylvania;  in  January 
came  North  Carolina;  in  February  came  Delaware, 
Massachusetts,  and  New  York.  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia  came  in  April,  and  Connecticut  in  May.  New 
Hampshire  would  gladly  have  acted  promptly,  but  her 
treasury  was  empty,  her  delegates  could  not  bear  the 
cost  of  the  journey  themselves,  and  the  Convention  was 
half  through  its  work  when  John  Langdon  and  Nicho 
las  Gilman  appeared  in  her  behalf.  Rhode  Island 
alone  refused  to  attend. 


112  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

The  day  chosen  for  the  meeting  of  the  Convention 
was  the  second  Monday  in  May,  which,  in  that  year, 
fell  on  the  fourteenth  of  the  month.  But  so  tardy 
were  the  delegates  in  setting  out,  and  so  great  were  the 
hindrances  met  on  the  way,  that  the  twenty-fifth  of 
May  came  before  seven  States  were  present  in  the 
State-House.  This  made  a  quorum.  The  Convention 
at  once  called  Washington  to  the  chair,  chose  William 
Jackson  secretary,  appointed  a  committee  to  prepare 
rules,  and  adjourned,  to  meet  again  on  the  twenty- 
eighth.  Nine  States  then  answered  to  their  names. 
The  doors  were  then  closed,  a  solemn  pledge  of  secrecy 
was  laid  on  the  members,  and  thenceforth  for  many 
years  what  took  place  in  the  Convention  was  never  fully 
known. 

The  delegates  thus  bound  to  secrecy  were  assuredly 
a  most  remarkable  body  of  men.  Hardly  one  among 
them  but  had  sat  in  some  famous  assembly,  had  signed 
some  famous  document,  had  filled  some  high  place,  or 
had  made  himself  conspicuous  for  learning,  for  scholar 
ship,  or  for  signal  services  rendered  in  the  cause  of 
liberty.  One  had  framed  the  Albany  plan  of  union ; 
some  had  been  members  of  the  Stamp- Act  Congress  of 
1765 ;  some  had  signed  the  Declaration  of  Rights  in 
1774 ;  the  names  of  others  appear  at  the  foot  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  and  at  the  foot  of  the 
Articles  of  Confederation ;  two  had  been  presidents  of 
Congress ;  seven  had  been,  or  were  then,  governors  'of 
States;  twenty-eight  had  been  members  of  Congress; 
one  had  commanded  the  armies  of  the  United  States ; 
another  had  been  Superintendent  of  Finance ;  a  third 
had  repeatedly  been  sent  on  important  missions  to  Eng 
land  and  had  long  been  Minister  to  France. 


FRAMING  THE  CONSTITUTION.  H3 

Nor  were  the  future  careers  of  many  of  them  to  be 
less  interesting  than  their  past.  Washington  and  Madi 
son  became  Presidents  of  the  United  States ;  Elbridge 
Gerry  became  Yice-President ;  Charles  Cotesworth 
Pinckney  and  Rufus  King  became  candidates  for  the 
presidency,  and  Jared  Ingersoll,  Rufus  King,  and  John 
Langdon  candidates  for  the  vice-presidency ;  Hamilton 
became  Secretary  of  the  Treasury ;  Madison,  Secretary 
of  State ;  Randolph,  Attorney- General  and  Secretary 
of  State,  and  James  McHenry,  a  Secretary  of  War ; 
Ellsworth  and  Rutledge  became  Chief- Justices ;  Wilson 
and  John  Blair  rose  to  the  supreme  bench ;  Gouver- 
neur  Morris,  and  Ellsworth,  and  Charles  C.  Pinckney, 
and  Gerry,  and  William  Davie  became  ministers  abroad. 
Others  less  fortunate  closed  their  careers  in  misery  or 
in  shame.  Hamilton  went  down  before  the  pistol  of 
Aaron  Burr;  Robert  Morris,  after  languishing  in  a 
debtor's  prison,  died  in  poverty ;  James  Wilson  died  a 
broken-hearted  fugitive  from  justice;  Edmund  Ran 
dolph  left  the  Cabinet  of  Washington  in  disgrace ;  Wil 
liam  Blount  was  driven  from  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States. 

Blount  sat  for  North  Carolina,  and  with  him  were 
Alexander  Martin,  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution ;  Richard 
Dobbs  Spaight,  a  native  of  Ireland  ;  Hugh  Williamson, 
and  William  Davie.  South  Carolina  sent  Pierce  But 
ler,  John  Rutledge,  and  the  two  cousins,  Charles  and 
Charles  Cotesworth  Pinckney.  Butler  was  an  Irishman, 
was  descended  from  the  Dukes  of  Ormond,  and,  when 
the  Revolution  opened,  was  a  major  in  the  Twenty -ninth 
Regiment  of  Foot.  The  Twenty -ninth  was  one  of  the 
regiments  stationed  at  Boston,  and  furnished  the  sol 
diers  who  did  the  shooting  in  the  famous  Boston  mas- 


114  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

sacre.  Disgusted  at  the  treatment  of  the  colonists,  and 
convinced  that  justice  was  on  their  side,  he  threw  up 
his  commission  when  the  war  opened,  joined  the  Con 
tinental  army,  fought  through  the  war,  and  then  settled 
in  South  Carolina.  Another  man  of  Scotch-Irish  an 
cestry  was  John  Rutledge.  He  too  had  been  educated 
abroad,  had  studied  law  at  the  Temple,  and  had  been 
sent  at  the  age  of  twenty-six  to  the  Stamp- Act  Con 
gress  of  1765.  Nine  years  later  he  sat  in  the  first 
Continental  Congress,  and  was  pronounced  by  Patrick 
Henry  the  most  eloquent  speaker  in  that  body.  Fear 
less,  resolute,  a  man  of  fine  parts,  he  was  unquestion 
ably  the  foremost  man  South  Carolina  produced  till  she 
produced  Calhoun. 

Georgia  sent  up  William  Houston,  William  Pierce, 
a  Virginian,  William  Few,  and  Abraham  Baldwin,  a 
Connecticut  man.  The  Connecticut  delegation  was,  as 
a  whole,  the  ablest  on  the  floor.  Save  Benjamin  Frank 
lin,  no  man  who  came  to  the  Convention  had  made  for 
himself  so  instructive  and  so  useful  a  career  as  Roger 
Sherman.  He  was  a  man  of  the  people.  Born  near 
Boston,  he  got  his  education  at  the  common  school,  and 
was  early  apprenticed  to  a  shoemaker.  His  apprentice 
ship  over,  he  set  out  on  foot,  with  his  tools  on  his  back, 
for  New  Milford,  in  Connecticut.  There  he  kept  store 
and  read  law  till  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  when  he 
moved  to  New  Haven.  At  New  Haven  he  rose  rapidly 
in  the  estimation  of  his  townsmen,  was  made  treasurer 
of  Yale  College,  represented  the  town  in  the  Legisla 
ture,  and  when  New  Haven  became  a  city,  was  chosen 
first  Mayor,  and  remained  Mayor  for  the  rest  of  his  life. 
He  was  fourteen  tunes  sent  to  the  Legislature.  He 
was  twenty-three  years  a  judge.  Connecticut  elected 


FRAMING  THE  CONSTITUTION.  H5 

him  to  the  Congress  of  1774,  and  re-elected  him  re 
peatedly  till  he  died.  He  signed  the  Declaration  of 
Rights  in  1774;  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
which  he  was  one  of  the  committee  to  write ;  and  the 
Articles  of  Confederation,  which  he  helped  to  frame. 

With  him  came  William  Samuel  Johnson  and  Oliver 
Ellsworth.  Johnson  had  been  a  judge  and  a  member 
of  Congress ;  but  he  enjoyed  a  distinction  rarer  still, 
for  he  was  a  scholar  of  high  rank.  Indeed,  the  fame  of 
his  learning  reached  England,  where  Oxford  made  him 
a  Doctor  of  Laws,  and  the  Royal  Society  a  member. 

Massachusetts  sent  up  Caleb  Strong,  Nathaniel  Gor- 
ham,  a  rich  Boston  merchant ;  Elbridge  Gerry,  a  signer 
and  a  member  of  Congress ;  and  Rufus  King,  a  con 
gressman  and  a  fierce  hater  of  slavery.  Alexander 
Hamilton,  John  Lansing,  and  Robert  Yates  repre 
sented  New  York.  Yates  and  Lansing  were  men  of 
ability ;  but  they  held  the  narrow  and  selfish  views  then 
so  prevalent  in  New  York  State,  became  mere  obstruc 
tionists  in  the  Convention,  and  when  they  could  not 
succeed  in  setting  up  State-rights  government,  left  the 
Convention  and  went  home.  The  departure  of  Yates  is 
much  to  be  lamented,  for,  while  he  stayed,  he  was  busy 
taking  notes  of  the  debates  and  proceedings.  Five  men 
came  from  Delaware — Gunning  Bedford,  Jr.,  Richard 
Bassett,  Jacob  Broome,  George  Read,  who  signed  the 
Declaration,  and  John  Dickinson,  who  would  not.  The 
largest  delegation  was  that  from  Pennsylvania.  On 
her  list  are  the  names  of  Jared  Ingersoll,  who  led  the 
bar  and  whose  father  had  been  driven  from  New  Eng 
land  for  trying  to  serve  as  Stamp  agent  in  1765  ;  George 
Clymer,  another  signer ;  Thomas  Fitz  Simons,  a  great 
merchant;  Robert  and  Gouverneur  Morris;  Thomas 


116  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

Mifflin,  a  general  of  the  Revolution,  a  member  of  Con 
gress,  and  once  a  member  of  the  infamous  Conway 
Cabal ;  James  Wilson,  a  Scotchman  and  the  best-read 
lawyer  in  the  Convention ;  and  Benjamin  Franklin. 
Maryland  sent  up  Daniel  of  St.  Thomas  Jenifer,  Daniel 
Carroll  of  Carrollton,  John  Mercer,  Luther  Martin,  and 
James  McIIenry. 

It  is  a  sure  sign  of  the  high  respect  in  which  this 
famous  body  of  men  was  held,  that  not  one  word  was 
uttered  by  the  people  against  their  secret  sessions. 
Profound  secrecy,  it  was  said,  could  not  be  kept  by 
men  who  quarrelled.  Secrecy  was  kept,  and  this  meant 
that  the  delegates  were  of  one  mind  on  all  Federal 
measures.  Had  the  world,  it  was  asked,  ever  beheld 
such  a  sight?  When  before  had  a  people  without 
strife  and  without  bloodshed  deputed  a  band  of  patriots, 
that  would  have  adorned  the  best  days  of  Greece  and 
Home,  to  cure  the  evils  of  its  Government  ?  That  evils 
existed  was  lamentable;  but  they  were  unavoidable. 
The  Confederacy  was  like  a  hut  or  a  tent  put  up  in 
time  of  war  and  fit  for  the  needs  of  war.  But  peace 
was  come,  and  it  was  now  time  to  build  a  suitable  and 
durable  dwelling,  with  tight  roof,  substantial  bolts,  and 
strong  bars,  to  shield  the  States  from  every  kind  of 
harm. 

The  simile  of  a  house  and  a  roof  was  a  favorite,  and 
was  used  again  and  again.  The  United  States  was  like 
an  old  man  and  his  wife  who  with  thirteen  sons  landed 
in  America.  There  they  built  a  spacious  dwelling  and 
lived  happily  for  several  years.  But  the  sons  grew 
weary  of  the  company  of  their  parents,  and  each  put 
up  a  cabin  for  himself  near  their  old  home.  At  once 
trouble  began.  One  had  implements  of  husbandry 


FRAMING  THE  CONSTITUTION.  H7 

stolen ;  another  lost  a  crop ;  a  third  had  his  sheep  eaten 
by  the  wolves ;  a  fourth  nearly  died  of  cold  from  the 
roof  of  his  cabin  being  blown  away ;  a  fifth  saw  his 
flock  swept  off  by  floods.  At  last  twelve  of  the  broth 
ers  met  on  a  plain  and  resolved  to  ask  their  father  to 
take  them  back.  He  did  so  gladly,  and  the  old  house, 
mended  and  enlarged,  was  made  more  beautiful  than 
ever.  The  thirteenth  son  stood  out,  and,  after  three 
years,  hanged  himself  by  his  garters  in  the  woods. 

This  son  was  Rhode  Island.  His  flocks,  in  the  lan 
guage  of  the  simile,  were  indeed  being  eaten  by  wolves. 
"Wholly  given  over  to  the  party  of  Shays,  the  party  of 
legal-tender  acts,  of  force  acts,  of  paper  money,  the 
State  had  sent  no  delegates  to  Philadelphia  and  was  not 
at  any  time  represented  in  the  Convention.  This  con 
tempt  for  the  wishes  of  the  country  was  warmly  re 
sented.  She  was  denounced  as  the  cause  of  the  failure 
of  the  impost.  To  her  charge  was  laid  the  suffering  of 
the  soldiers  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  the  heavy  taxes, 
the  bankrupt  treasury,  the  poverty  of  the  whole  nation. 
Let  her,  it  was  said,  never  again  be  suffered  to  defeat  a 
Federal  measure.  Drop  her  from  the  Union.  Turn 
her  out  from  the  company  of  States.  Or,  better  still, 
apportion  her  to  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut.  Ver 
mont  would  more  than  take  her  place.  As  the  Fourth 
of  July  drew  near,  the  Governor  of  New  Jersey  was  said 
to  have  expressly  ordered  that  no  more  than  twelve  can 
non  be  fired,  and  no  more  than  twelve  toasts  be  drunk. 
At  Trenton  and  a  few  places  elsewhere  this  was  done. 
The  Convention,  it  was  asserted,  was  determined  that 
Rhode  Island  should  be  considered  out  of  the  Union. 
The  government  about  to  be  set  up  would  hold  her  re 
sponsible  for  a  fair  share  of  the  Federal  debt,  and 


118  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

would  first  seek  by  gentle  means  to  collect  it.  But,  if 
these  failed,  the  sum  would  be  taken  from  her  by 
force. 

As  to  what  this  new  and  vigorous  government  would 
be,  the  people  made  all  manner  of  guesses.  Many  plans, 
it  was  thought,  had  been  talked  of.  One  was  said  to 
keep  the  form  but  not  the  spirit  of  Democracy ;  another 
parted  the  States  into  three  republics ;  another  gave  a 
strong  executive  power  without  even  the  semblance  of 
a  popular  constitution.  The  Convention  was  accused 
by  some  of  having  a  plan  to  set  up  a  king.  A  consti 
tution,  the  knowing  ones  asserted,  had  been  made,  titles, 
orders,  and  social  distinctions  established,  and  a  com 
mission  would  soon  be  sent  to  offer  the  crown  to  the 
Bishop  of  Osnaburgh,  the  second  son  of  King  George. 
This  idle  tale  was  more  than  half  believed,  and  each 
post  brought  letters  to  the  delegates  begging  to  know 
if  it  were  true.  The  answer  invariably  was,  "  While 
we  cannot  affirmatively  tell  you  what  we  are  doing,  we 
can  negatively  tell  you  what  we  are  not  doing;  we 
never  once  thought  of  a  king." 

For  our  knowledge  of  what  they  did  think  of  doing 
we  are  indebted  to  the  journals  of  the  Convention,  to 
the  notes  taken  down  by  Yates  and  Madison,  and  to 
the  "  Genuine  Information  "  of  Luther  Martin.  From 
these  sources  it  appears  that  the  serious  work  of  the 
Convention  was  opened  by  Randolph  on  the  morning 
of  Tuesday,  the  twenty-ninth  of  May.  In  a  speech  of 
great  force  he  summed  up  the  weak  points  of  the  Ar 
ticles  of  Confederation,  showed  how  unsuited  they  were 
to  the  needs  of  the  country,  and  urged  all  present  to 
join  in  setting  up  a  strong  national  government.  As  a 
plan  of  such  a  government,  he  read  fifteen  resolutions 


FRAMING  THE  CONSTITUTION. 

which  the  Virginia  delegate  had  framed  while  waiting 
for  the  Convention  to  assemble. 

This,  which  came  in  time  to  be  known  as  the  Vir 
ginia  plan,  provided  that  there  should  be  a  national  Ex 
ecutive,  a  national  Legislature,  a  national  Judiciary  and 
Council  of  Revision ;  that  the  Executive  should  be  chosen 
by  the  Legislature  and  be  ineligible  a  second  time ;  that 
the  Legislature  should  consist  of  two  branches,  with 
power  to  coerce  refractory  States  and  veto  all  State 
laws  contrary  to  the  Articles  of  Union  ;  that  the  people 
should  choose  the  members  of  the  first  branch;  that 
the  first  branch  should  choose  the  members  of  the  sec 
ond  from  men  nominated  by  the  Legislatures  of  the 
States ;  that  the  representation  of  each  State  should  be 
proportioned  to  the  inhabitants  on  its  soil  or  to  the 
share  it  bore  of  the  national  expenses ;  that  the  judi 
ciary  should  be  elected  by  the  national  Legislature; 
that  the  Executive  and  the  judges  should  form  a  council 
to  revise  all  laws  before  they  went  into  force  ;  that  pro 
visions  should  be  made  for  admitting  new  States,  for 
amending  the  Articles  of  Union,  for  assuring  to  each 
State  a  Republican  form  of  government  and  a  right  to 
its  soil. 

The  resolutions  read  and  explained,  Randolph  moved 
a  Committee  of  the  Whole  on  the  State  of  the  Union, 
and  to  the  committee  the  Virginia  plan  was  sent.  No 
sooner  was  this  done  than  Charles  Pinckney,  of  South 
Carolina,  presented  a  second  plan  for  a  constitutional 
government.  This  too  went  to  the  committee,  was 
never  heard  of  again,  and  is  now  hopelessly  lost. 

Next  day  the  Virginia  plan  came  formally  before 
the  committee,  and  during  two  weeks  was  carefully  de 
bated.  Each  resolution  was  taken  up.  Some  were 
9 


120  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

amended,  some  were  dropped,  and  others  put  in  their 
stead.  But  the  feeling  of  the  delegates  seemed  to  be 
that  there  should  be  an  executive,  legislative,  and  judi 
cial  branch  of  government ;  that  the  Legislature  should 
consist  of  two  Houses,  and  that  the  members  of  one 
should  be  elected  by  the  people.  When  the  number  of 
the  Executive  and  the  way  of  choosing  came  up,  there 
were  almost  as  many  opinions  as  States  on  the  floor. 
Some  wanted  an  Executive  of  three,  one  from  each  part 
of  the  country ;  some  were  for  a  single  Executive  with 
a  council  of  revision ;  some  for  a  single  Executive  with 
out  a  council  of  revision.  He  was  to  be  elected  directly 
by  the  people.  He  was  to  be  chosen  by  electors,  or  by 
State  Legislatures;  by  the  State  Governors;  by  one 
branch  of  the  national  Legislature ;  by  both  branches 
on  a  joint  ballot ;  by  both  branches  on  a  concurrent 
vote ;  he  was  to  be  chosen  by  lot.  For  three  days  no 
other  business  was  done.  It  was  then  determined  that 
the  Executive  should  be  chosen  as  the  national  Legisla 
ture  decided,  should  hold  office  seven  years,  and  should 
not  be  re-elected. 

This  decision  was  reached  on  Monday,  the  fourth  of 
June.  The  debates  up  to  that  time  had  been  most 
amicable.  But,  before  the  week  ended,  the  delegates 
began  to  wrangle,  sectional  spirit  began  to  appear,  and 
those  lines  which  again  and  again  divided  the  Conven 
tion  before  it  rose  became  plainly  visible.  There  were 
parties  made  up  of  individuals  and  parties  made  up  of 
States.  There  were  men  who  wished  for  a  Federal 
government  not  much  unlike  that  they  were  trying  to 
better,  and  there  were  men  who  did  not  want  a  Confed 
eracy  at  all.  There  were  men  eager  to  see  a  centralized 
government  set  up,  and  men  insisting  that  State  sover- 


FRAMING  THE  CONSTITUTION.  121 

eignty  should  be  carefully  maintained.  There  were  the 
Southern  States  against  the  Northern  States,  the  com 
mercial  States  against  the  agricultural  States ;  and  what 
proved  far  more  serious  still,  there  were  the  great  States 
against  the  small. 

Out  of  these  party  divisions  came  in  tune  the  three 
compromises  of  the  Constitution.  The  fear  in  which 
the  little  States  stood  of  the  great  secured  the  compro 
mise  giving  representation  to  States.  The  hatred  felt 
by  the  slave  States  for  the  free  caused  the  second  com 
promise,  giving  representation  to  slaves.  The  jealousy 
between  States  agricultural  and  States  commercial 
brought  about  the  third  compromise,  on  the  slave-trade 
and  commerce. 

The  great  States  were  Massachusetts,  Pennsylvania, 
and  Virginia ;  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Delaware 
were  the  small.  The  great  States  were  for  a  strong 
national  government  on  the  Virginia  plan;  the  little 
States  were  for  the  old  confederation  mended  and  im 
proved,  and  made  their  first  firm  stand  on  Saturday, 
the  ninth  of  June.  The  second  resolution  of  the  Vir 
ginia  plan,  that  suffrage  in  the  national  Legislature 
ought  to  be  in  proportion  to  wealth  or  free  inhabi 
tants,  had  been  postponed,  and  this,  on  motion  of  Pat- 
erson,  of  New  Jersey,  was  now  taken  up. 

The  Convention,  he  said,  had  no  power  to  make  a 
national  government.  Congress  had  assembled  them 
to  amend  the  Articles  of  Confederation.  The  articles 
were,  therefore,  the  proper  basis  for  all  proceeding. 
Bad  as  they  might  be  in  some  ways,  they  were  excel 
lent  in  others.  They  acknowledged  the  sovereignty 
of  the  States,  treated  them  all  alike,  and  gave  to  each 
the  same  vote  and  the  same  weight  when  assembled  in 


122  WITH  .THE  FATHERS. 

Congress.  On  no  other  "plan  could  a  confederacy  of 
States  be  maintained.  Representation  as  proposed, 
representation  in  proportion  to  wealth  or  numbers, 
looked  fair  in  the  face  ;  but  it  was  unfair  and  unjust  at 
heart.  Suppose  it  adopted,  suppose  the  States  to  send 
delegates  to  the  first  branch  according  to  the  sums  of 
money  they  paid  to  the  Board  of  Treasury,  and  see 
what  would  happen.  Virginia  would  have  sixteen 
votes  and  Georgia  one.  Was  this  just  ?  Was  it  safe  ? 
Did  any  one  think  New  Jersey  would  risk  her  inde 
pendence,  her  sovereignty,  her  well-being  in  a  Congress 
in  which  she  had  but  five  votes  while  Virginia  had  six 
teen?  There  was  no  more  reason  for  giving  a  State 
paying  a  large  quota  more  votes  than  a  State  paying  a 
small  quota  than  there  was  for  giving  a  rich  man  more 
votes  at  the  polls  than  a  poor  man.  New  Jersey  would 
never  confederate  on  such  a  plan.  She  would  be  swal 
lowed  up.  She  would  rather  submit  to  a  despot  than 
to  such  a  fate. 

The  great  States  took  a  different  view.  It  was  true, 
they  admitted,  that  each  State  was  sovereign,  and  that 
all  were  therefore  equal.  It  was  also  true  that  each 
man  is  naturally  a  sovereign  over  himself,  and  that 
therefore  all  men  are  naturally  equal.  But  could  he 
keep  this  sovereignty  when  he  became  a  member  of  a 
civil  government?  He  could  not.  Neither  could  a 
State  keep  her  sovereignty  when  she  became  a  member 
of  a  Federal  government.  All  government  came 
from  the  people.  Equal  numbers  of  people  ought 
therefore  to  have  an  equal  number  of  representatives, 
and  different  numbers  of  people  a  different  number  of 
representatives.  The  people,  not  the  States,  were  to 
be  represented.  And  did  any  one  think  that  one  hun- 


FRAMING  THE  CONSTITUTION.  123 

dred  and  fifty  Pennsjlvanians  should  have  no  more 
representation  than  fifty  Jerseymen  ?  Six  States 
thought  not,  and  voted  that  in  the  first  branch  repre 
sentation  should  be  according  to  some  equitable  ratio. 
An  equitable  ratio  was  next  decided  to  be  the  rule  by 
which,  in  April,  1783,  Congress  fixed  the  quotas  of  the 
States.  This  rule  was  that  quotas  should  be  laid  ac 
cording  to  the  whole  number  of  free  white  inhabitants 
of  both  sexes,  of  every  age,  occupation,  and  condition, 
and  three  fifths  of  all  other  persons  save  Indians  not 
taxed. 

The  small  States  had  lost  the  day.  But  they  were 
not  discouraged,  and,  led  on  by  Connecticut,  made  a 
stout  fight  for  an  equal  vote  in  the  Senate.  Again 
they  were  defeated,  again  population  was  made  the 
basis  of  representation,  and,  this  done,  the  committee 
hurried  on  to  the  consideration  of  the  remaining  reso 
lutions  of  the  Virginia  plan.  By  the  thirteenth  of  June 
they  had  all  been  passed ;  the  committee  had  reported 
them  to  the  House,  and  the  House  was  about  to  name 
a  day  for  considering  the  report,  when  Paterson  rose 
and  asked  leave  to  bring  in  a  totally  different  plan. 
Alarmed  at  the  strong  display  of  national  feeling,  the 
delegates  from  Connecticut  and  New  Jersey,  Delaware 
and  New  York,  with  Luther  Martin,  of  Maryland,  had 
framed  a  plan  and  chosen  Paterson  to  lay  it  before  the 
Convention ;  a  plan  which  Hamilton  well  described  as 
"  pork  still,  with  a  little  change  of  the  sauce."  Con 
gress  was  to  consist  of  a  single  House,  with  power  to 
regulate  trade  and  commerce,  and  raise  a  revenue  by 
duties  on  imports,  postage  on  letters  and  newspapers, 
and  stamps  on  paper  and  vellum.  There  was  to  be  an 
Executive  of  several  persons  not  eligible  to  a  second 


124:  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

term,  and  removable  by  Congress  at  the  request  of  a 
majority  of  the  Governors  of  the  States.  There  was  to 
be  a  Supreme  Court,  uniform  laws  of  naturalization, 
and,  when  necessary,  requisitions  on  the  States  for 
money,  according  to  the  rule  of  April,  1783 ;  officers 
were  to  be  sworn  to  support  the  Constitution,  and  the 
Constitution  and  its  laws  and  treaties  were  to  be  "  the 
supreme  law  of  the  land." 

This  plan,  it  was  said,  had  two  great  merits — it  fully 
agreed  with  the  powers  of  the  Convention ;  it  would  be 
gladly  accepted  by  the  people.  These  were  important ; 
for  the  duty  of  the  Convention  was  not  to  frame  such  a 
government  as  might  be  best  in  theory,  but  such  as  the 
people  expected  and  would  approve.  If  the  confedera 
tion  was  really  so  bad,  let  the  Convention  say  so,  go 
home,  and  get  power  to  make  such  a  government  as 
they  wished.  But  to  assume  such  power  was  not  to  be 
justified  on  any  ground.  If,  as  some  held,  the  confed 
eration  had  fallen  to  pieces,  if  no  general  Government 
really  existed,  then  the  States  were  once  more  indepen 
dent  sovereignties,  and  should  stand  on  the  footing  of 
equal  sovereignties.  All  then  must  agree  or  none  could 
be  bound.  If  the  confederation  did  exist,  then  by  the 
terms  of  the  articles  no  change  could  be  made  without 
the  consent  of  all.  This  was  the  nature  of  all  treaties. 
What  had  been  unanimously  done  must  be  unanimously 
undone.  It  was  said  that  the  great  States  consented  to 
this  equality,  not  because  it  was  just,  but  because,  at 
the  time,  it  was  expedient.  Be  it  so.  Could  they, 
therefore,  take  back  that  assent  ?  Could  a  donor  re 
sume  his  gift  without  the  leave  of  the  donee  ? 

It  was  now  the  turn  of  the  great  States  to  make  an 
attack,  and  they  did  so  vigorously.  Wilson  drew  a 


FRAMING  THE  CONSTITUTION.  125 

long  comparison  between  the  Virginia  plan  and  the 
Jersey  plan.  By  the  Virginia  plan  there  were  to  be 
three  branches  of  government ;  by  the  Jersey  plan  but 
one.  By  the  Virginia  plan  the  people  were  to  be  rep 
resented  ;  by  the  Jersey  plan  the  States.  By  the  one  a 
majority  of  the  people  would  rule ;  by  the  other  a 
minority.  The  Virginia  plan  provided  for  a  single  Ex 
ecutive  ;  the  Jersey  plan  for  an  Executive  of  many. 
The  Virginia  plan  provided  for  a  negative  on  the  laws 
of  the  States ;  the  Jersey  plan  for  the  coercion  of  the 
States. 

Madison  demanded  to  know  in  what  respect  the 
Jersey  plan  was  better  than  the  old  articles.  It  could 
not  prevent  violations  of  the  laws  of  nations,  nor  of 
treaties,  nor  prevent  encroachments  on  the  Federal 
authority,  nor  trespasses  of  the  States  on  each  other, 
nor  secure  internal  tranquillity,  nor  give  good  govern 
ments  to  the  States,  nor  guard  the  Union  from  the  in 
fluence  of  foreign  powers.  It  could  cure  none  of  the 
evils  that  had  long  grown  intolerable. 

Hamilton,  who  liked  neither  of  the  plans,  now  read 
to  the  committee  his  own  thoughts  on  the  best  form  of 
Republican  government.  The  supreme  legislature,  as 
he  called  it,  was  to  consist  of  two  branches — the  As 
sembly  and  the  Senate.  Members  of  the  Assembly 
were  to  be  chosen  by  the  people  for  three  years. 
Members  of  the  Senate  were  to  be  elected  by  electors 
chosen  by  the  people  and  serve  as  long  as  they  behaved 
well.  The  Executive  was  to  be  one  man  chosen  by 
electors  for  good  behavior.  He  was  to  have  a  veto  on 
all  laws  about  to  be  passed,  was  to  conduct  war  when 
once  begun,  make  treaties  with  the  leave  of  the  Senate, 
and  appoint  the  heads  of  the  departments  of  war, 


126  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

finance,  and  foreign  affairs  without  consulting  any  one. 
There  was  to  be  a  supreme  judiciary,  and  in  each  State 
there  were  to  be  courts  to  try  all  matters  of  general 
concern.  State  laws  contrary  to  the  laws  and  Constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States  were  to  be  void.  To  prevent, 
if  possible,  such  being  passed,  the  general  Government 
was  to  appoint  the  Governors  of  the  States. 

The  committee  had  now  before  them  the  Virginia 
plan,  the  South  Carolina  plan,  the  ~New  Jersey  plan,  and 
the  thoughts  of  Hamilton  on  government,  which  he 
distinctly  declared  were  thoughts,  and  nothing  more. 
But  they  gave  no  heed  to  any  schemes  save  those  sent 
in  by  Virginia  and  New  Jersey.  The  question,  there 
fore,  at  once  became  which  of  the  two  should  be  re 
ported.  We  must,  said  the  State-rights  party,  report 
the  Jersey  plan.  Our  powers  are  limited,  and  this  is 
the  only  plan  that  comes  within  them.  Our  powers, 
said  the  Virginia  party,  extend  to  everything  or  to 
nothing.  We  are  free  to  support  any  plan  and  to  re 
ject  any  plan.  The  people  are  bowed  down  under  in 
tolerable  burdens.  They  look  up  to  this  Convention 
with  fond  hopes,  and  expect  from  it  a  government 
that  will  cure  the  ills  of  which  they  complain.  A 
strong  national  government  alone  can  do  so,  and  such 
a  government  the  Virginia  plan  will  give  them.  The 
committee  heartily  agreed  to  this,  voted  the  Jersey  plan 
inadmissible,  rose,  and  reported  the  Virginia  plan  to 
the  Convention. 

This  much  settled,  the  debating  went  smoothly  on 
for  a  week.  Put  in  good  humor  by  the  adoption  of 
their  plan,  the  great  States  now  began  to  make  some 
idle  concessions  to  the  small.  The  word  "national" 
occurred  twenty-six  times  in  the  resolutions,  was  hate- 


FRAMING  THE  CONSTITUTION.  127 

ful  to  the  little  States,  and  was  therefore  graciously 
dropped.  But  the  questions  that  took  up  the  time  of 
the  Convention  till  the  last  of  June  were :  Should  the 
Legislature  consist  of  one  branch  or  two  ?  Should 
there  be  one  Executive  or  three  ?  Should  the  members 
of  the  first  branch  be  twenty-five  years  old  or  thirty  ? 
Should  the  members  of  the  second  branch  serve  for 
nine  years,  for  seven  years,  for  five  years,  during  good 
behavior  ?  Then  was  reached  that  question  which 
never  once  carne  up  for  discussion  without  provoking  a 
violent  display  of  sectional  feeling  and  a  long  and  ran 
corous  debate.  The  question  was,  Should  suffrage  in 
the  Legislature  be  according  to  the  rale  established  by 
the  Articles  of  Confederation,  or  according  to  some 
other  ? 

Defenders  of  the  State-rights  theory  asserted  that 
the  general  Government  ought  to  act  on  States,  and  not 
on  individuals.  The  States  were  sovereign.  Being 
sovereign,  they  were  equal,  and  being  equal,  they  ought 
to  have  equal  votes.  If  the  large  States  did  indeed 
have  the  same  interests  as  the  small,  there  could  be  no 
harm  in  giving  equal  suffrage  to  all.  If  the  great  States 
did  not  have  the  same  interests  as  the  small,  then  un 
equal  suffrage  would  be  dangerous  to  the  last  degree. 
Once  given  votes  in  proportion  to  population  or  to 
wealth,  it  would  be  all  the  same  whether  the  delegates 
were  chosen  by  the  people  or  by  the  legislatures.  The 
great  States  would  combine ;  the  little  States  would  be 
enslaved. 

The  defenders  of  the  Yirginia  plan  pronounced  these 
fears  and  reasons  absurd.  It  was  the  great  States  that 
fell  out  and  the  small  ones  that  combined.  This  had 
always  been  the  case  in  the  Old  World,  and  it  would 


128  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

be  so  in  the  New.  Massachusetts  and  Pennsylvania 
and  Virginia  could  never  combine.  They  were  far 
apart.  Their  manners,  customs,  religions,  were  unlike. 
They  had  nothing  common  even  in  trade.  They  were, 
however,  rich,  populous,  and  would  surely  be  called  on 
to  bear  the  largest  part  of  the  cost  and  burdens  of  the 
Government  about  to  be  set  up.  If,  therefore,  they 
consented  to  equality  of  suffrage,  they  would  be  out 
voted,  and  their  money  and  their  property  would  be 
completely  at  the  mercy  of  the  little  States. 

Between  these  two  contending  parties  now  appeared 
for  the  first  time  a  party  of  compromisers,  made  up 
chiefly  of  Connecticut  men.  Both  the  State-rights  and 
the  Virginia  party  went,  they  held,  too  far.  One  looked 
on  the  States  as  so  many  separate  political  societies ; 
the  other  looked  on  the  people  as  one  great  political  so 
ciety  of  which  the  States  were  merely  districts  of  people. 
The  truth  was,  the  States  did  exist  as  political  beings, 
and  a  Government  to  be  good  and  lasting  must  be 
formed  for  them  in  their  political  capacity  as  well  as 
for  the  individuals  composing  them.  The  well-being 
of  each  was  to  be  considered.  The  true  plan  was, 
therefore,  to  give  the  people  representation  in  the  one 
branch  and  the  States  representation  in  the  other.  ISTew 
York,  ]S"ew  Jersey,  and  Delaware  were  in  no  mood  for 
a  compromise  and  would  hear  nothing  of  such  a  plan. 
But  the  great  States  had  their  way,  and  voted  that  in 
the  first  branch  representation  ought  to  bear  some  pro 
portion  to  the  population  of  the  States.  This  was  final. 
Thenceforth  no  attempt  was  ever  made  to  set  it  aside. 

Greatly  elated,  the  compromisers  now  redoubled 
their  efforts,  and  insisted  that,  in  the  second  branch, 
the  voting  should  be  by  States.  But  the  defenders  of 


FRAMING  THE  CONSTITUTION.  129 

the  Virginia  plan  again  flew  into  a  passion,  another 
rancorous  debate  took  up  two  days,  and  when  the  vote 
was  finally  reached,  the  ballot  stood  five  to  five.  Never 
before  had  the  members  been  so  angry,  nor  the  speeches 
so  personal  and  bitter.  Reflections,  recrimination, 
taunts,  threats  of  secession,  were  heard  on  every  side. 
In  this  pass,  at  the  suggestion  of  Charles  Cotesworth 
Pinckney,  the  whole  matter  of  representation  was  sent 
to  a  grand  committee,  and  the  Convention  adjourned 
for  three  days. 

But  the  debates  in  the  Committee  of  Eleven  were  as 
stormy  as  the  debates  in  the  Committee  of  the  Whole. 
Again  a  compromise  was  offered  and  again  it  was  re 
fused.  You  propose,  said  the  State-rights  party  to  the 
Virginia  party,  to  consent  to  an  equal  representation  in 
the  second  branch  of  the  Legislature  if  we  will  consent 
to  an  unequal  representation  in  the  first.  We  will  not. 
This  is  merely  offering,  after  a  bitter  struggle  to  put 
both  your  feet  on  our  necks,  to  take  one  off  if  we  will 
quietly  suffer  the  other  foot  to  remain.  But  we  know 
well  that  you  cannot  keep  even  one  foot  on  unless  we 
are  willing,  and  we  know  well  that,  having  one  firmly 
planted,  you  will  be  able  to  put  on  the  second  when 
you  please.  Riches  will  come  to  you ;  population  will 
come  to  you,  and  with  them  power.  Will  you  not  then 
force  from  us  that  equality  of  representation  in  the  sec 
ond  branch  which  you  now  deny  to  be  our  right,  and 
yield  only  from  necessity  ?  You  tell  us  that  you  will 
enter  into  a  solemn  compact  with  us  not  to  do  so.  But 
did  you  not  years  ago  enter  into  a  solemn  compact  with 
us,  and  are  you  not  now  treating  it  with  the  utmost 
contempt  ?  Do  you  think  that  while  we  see  you  wan 
tonly  violate  one,  we  will  meekly  enter  into  another  ? 


130  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

Franklin  most  happily  was  a  member  of  the  com 
mittee,  and  brought  his  colleagues  in  time  to  a  better 
mind  and  persuaded  them  to  agree  to  a  report.  This 
recommended  that  each  State  should  be  given  one  rep 
resentative  in  the  first  branch  of  the  Legislature  for 
every  forty  thousand  inhabitants,  and  that  in  the  sec 
ond  branch  each  State  should  have  an  equal  vote.  As 
the  price  of  the  concession  by  the  great  States,  it  was 
insisted  that  all  money  bills  should  originate  in  the  first 
branch  and  not  be  amended  in  the  second,  and  that  no 
money  should  be  drawn  from  the  Treasury  except  by 
bills  originating  in  the  first  branch. 

Thus  was  the  first  compromise  ended.  The  report, 
indeed,  did  not  pass  the  Convention  for  two  weeks,  and 
then  by  a  close  vote.  But  it  was  not  again  disputed 
that  in  the  second  branch  the  States  should  have  an 
equal  vote. 

Meanwhile  the  Committee  of  the  Whole  took  up  the 
report  in  detail.  The  clause  fixing  representation  at 
one  to  forty  thousand  was  recommitted,  and  reported 
back  with  the  provision  that  in  the  first  House  of  Rep 
resentatives  there  should  be  fifty-six  members,  and  that 
for  the  future  representation  should  be  based  on  wealth 
and  population.  The  provision  of  one  representative 
for  forty  thousand  inhabitants  was  dropped  as  too  un 
safe.  It  would  enable  the  West  in  time  to  outvote  the 
East.  By  making  a  general  and  not  a  specific  rule,  the 
East  would  keep  the  Government  in  its  own  hands,  take 
care  of  its  own  interests,  and  deal  out  representation  in 
safe  proportion  to  the  West. 

But  wealth  and  population  were  ever  changing,  and 
to  find  this  change  Randolph  proposed  an  estimate  and 
a  census.  The  idea  seemed  a  good  one.  There  were, 


FRAMING  THE  CONSTITUTION.  131 

however,  below  the  Mason  and  Dixon  line  thousands  of 
human  beings  who  might  with  equal  justice  be  consid 
ered  as  population  or  as  wealth.  They  could  be  bought 
and  sold,  leased  and  mortgaged,  given  away,  or  be 
queathed  by  will.  They  held  no  property,  acquired  no 
estates,  and  to  the  delegates  from  the  North  and  East 
seemed  to  be  of  no  more  account  in  the  South  than  a 
black  horse  or  a  black  ox  in  New  England.  They  in 
sisted,  therefore,  that  slaves  should  be  looked  on  as 
property.  By  the  delegates  from  the  South,  however, 
a  slave  was  held  to  be  a  man,  for  by  doing  so  they 
hoped  to  increase  their  representation.  No  sooner, 
then,  was  it  moved  to  take  a  census,  than  Williamson 
moved  that  the  census  should  be  of  all  free  whites  and 
three  fifths  of  all  others. 

Instantly  the  old  division  of  great  States  and  little 
States  disappeared,  and  the  Convention  was  parted  on 
the  new  basis  of  North  and  South.  On  the  one  hand 
were  Delaware,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia,  demand 
ing  that  slaves  should  have  an  equal  representation  with 
the  whites ;  on  the  other  hand  were  Massachusetts, 
Pennsylvania,  and  New  Jersey,  demanding  that  slaves 
should  not  be  represented  at  all.  Between  the  two,  but 
leaning  more  toward  the  North,  were  Virginia,  Mary 
land,  and  North  Carolina.  New  York  was  no  longer 
represented.  Yates  and  Lansing,  enraged  at  the  pas 
sage  of  the  Connecticut  compromise,  had  gone  home  in 
a  huff.  Hamilton  could  no  longer  vote,  and  New  York 
ceased  to  be  considered  a  member  of  the  Convention. 

The  labor  of  slaves,  such  was  the  argument  of  dele 
gates  from  the  South,  is  as  productive  and  as  valuable 
in  South  Carolina  as  the  labor  of  freemen  in  Massachu 
setts.  They  put  up  the  value  of  land ;  they  increase 


132  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

the  amount  of  imports  and  exports ;  they  may,  in  emer 
gency,  be  turned  into  soldiers  and  used  for  defence; 
they  ought  therefore,  in  a  Government  set  up  chiefly 
for  the  protection  of  property  and  to  be  supported  by 
property,  to  have  equal  representation  with  the  whites. 

What,  said  their  opponents,  is  the  principle  of  rep 
resentation  ?  It  is  an  expedient  by  which  an  assembly 
of  certain  men  chosen  by  the  people  is  put  in  place  of 
the  inconvenient  meeting  of  all  the  people.  Suppose 
such  a  meeting  to  take  place  in  the  South,  would  slaves 
have  a  vote?  They  would  not.  Why,  then,  should 
they  be  represented  ?  Had  a  master  in  Virginia  a  num 
ber  of  votes  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  his  slaves  ? 
He  had  not.  Why,  then,  if  there  is  no  slave  represen 
tation  in  the  States  Legislature,  should  there  be  slave 
representation  in  the  National  Legislature  ?  What,  in 
plain  language,  did  it  mean  ?  It  meant  that  the  man 
from  South  Carolina  who  went  to  the  coast  of  Africa, 
and  in  defiance  of  the  most  sacred  laws  of  humanity 
dragged  away  his  fellow-creatures  from  their  dearest 
connections  and  damned  them  to  the  most  cruel  bond 
age,  should  have  more  votes,  in  a  Government  formed 
for  the  protection  of  the  rights  of  man,  than  a  citizen 
of  Pennsylvania  or  New  Jersey  who  viewed  such  a  ne 
farious  practice  with  horror. 

Between  the  two  was  a  third  party,  made  up  of  men 
holding  a  variety  of  views.  One  could  not  consider  the 
negro  equal  to  the  white ;  yet  the  negro  was  a  man,  was 
a  part  of  the  whole  population,  and  ought  to  have  some 
representation.  Another  thought  the  Continental  rule 
of  three  fifths  about  right.  A  third  was  for  giving 
slaves  representation  in  the  second  branch  but  not  in 
the  first.  They  could  do  nothing,  however,  in  the  way 


FRAMING  THE  CONSTITUTION.  133 

of  compromise,  and,  when  a  vote  on  the  resolution  for 
a  census  was  taken,  every  State  present  answered  No. 

Matters  were  now  just  where  they  were  when  the  re 
port  of  the  committee  was  presented.  But  they  did  not 
long  remain  so.  Gouverneur  Morris,  in  an  evil  hour, 
moved  that  taxation  should  be  in  proportion  to  repre 
sentation.  In  the  form  of  direct  taxation  the  motion 
passed.  Upon  this  a  Southern  member  cried  out  that 
an  attempt  was  being  made  to  deprive  the  South  of  all 
representation  of  her  blacks,  and  warned  the  Convention 
that  North  Carolina  would  never  confederate  unless  she 
had  at  least  a  three-fifths  representation  for  her  slaves. 

The  threat  was  indeed  formidable.  Whatever  form 
of  government  the  Convention  might  frame  would,  it 
was  well  known,  have  to  be  submitted  to  the  States  for 
approval.  It  had  long  seemed  doubtful  whether  enough 
would  approve  to  enable  any  plan  to  go  into  operation. 
Rhode  Island  had  refused  to  join  the  Convention.  The 
delegates  from  New  York  had  gone  home  disgruntled. 
Massachusetts  was  not  to  be  counted  on.  "Were  North 
Carolina  added  to  the  number,  the  Convention  might  as 
well  break  up,  for  their  labors  could  accomplish  nothing. 

To  appease  her,  therefore,  the  lost  resolution  for  a 
census  of  whites  and  three  fifths  of  the  blacks  was  again 
moved,  and  the  whole  matter  of  slavery  was  once  more 
before  the  Convention.  How  it  should  be  settled  was 
for  the  South  to  say,  for  of  the  ten  States  present  the 
North  could  command  but  four.  The  South  decided 
on  a  compromise,  and  the  compromise  offered  was,  to 
proportion  representation  according  to  direct  taxation, 
and  both  representation  and  direct  taxes  according  to 
population,  counting  as  population  all  free  whites  and 
three  fifths  of  the  negroes.  When  the  ballot  was  taken 


134  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

North  Carolina  and  Georgia  voted  yea ;  South  Carolina 
was  divided,  and  the  second  compromise  was  accepted. 

On  the  sixteenth  of  July  the  report  of  the  commit 
tee  containing  the  two  compromises  came  before  the 
Convention.  The  day  was  a  great  one,  for  on  the  vote 
then  taken  hung  the  fate  of  the  Constitution.  On  one 
part  of  the  report  the  States  had  been  divided  into  the 
great  against  the  small.  On  another  part  they  had 
taken  sides  as  the  slaves  against  the  free.  But  the  vote 
was  now  on  the  whole  report,  and  the  States  were 
forced  to  take  their  stand  accordingly.  The  four  little 
States  supported  it  because  of  the  compromise  giving 
equal  representation  in  the  Senate.  Two  of  the  large 
States  opposed  it  for  the  same  reason,  and  were  joined 
by  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  who  still  insisted  on  a 
full  representation  of  slaves.  Massachusetts  was  di 
vided,  for  King  and  Gorham  stoutly  refused  to  support 
any  plan  of  government  that  gave  recognition  and  en 
couragement  to  slavery.  Everything,  therefore,  turned 
on  the  vote  of  North  Carolina,  who,  to  save  the  Consti 
tution,  deserted  the  great  States,  joined  with  the  small, 
and  the  report  passed  by  five  votes  to  four. 

Now  each  party  grew  very  angry.  Randolph  was 
for  an  adjournment,  that  the  great  States  might  have 
time  to  decide  what  steps  to  take  next,  and  that  the 
small  States  might  arrange  some  plan  of  conciliation. 
He  was  sharply  answered  by  Paterson  that  it  was  high 
time  to  adjourn,  and  to  adjourn  sine  die.  The  rule  of 
secrecy  ought  to  be  taken  off  and  the  people  consulted. 
As  for  conciliation,  the  small  States  would  never  con 
ciliate  except  on  the  basis  of  equality  of  representation. 

The  indignation  of  the  members  from  the  great 
States  at  this  was  extreme,  and  early  the  next  morning 


FRAMING  THE  CONSTITUTION.  135 

a  number  of  them  met  to  consider  what  to  do.  It  was 
clear  that  the  little  States  were  fixed  in  their  opposition. 
They  had  again  and  again  asserted  that  they  would 
never  give  way,  and  they  were  still  showing  a  front  as 
determined  as  ever.  Since,  then,  this  partition  of  the 
Convention  into  two  parties  of  opposite  opinions  seemed 
inevitable,  the  duty  of  the  great  States  was,  some  said, 
quite  plain.  They  represented  the  majority  of  the  peo 
ple  of  the  United  States.  Let  them,  then,  make  ready 
a  plan  of  government  of  their  own.  If  the  small  States 
agreed  to  it,  well  and  good.  If  not,  so  much  the  worse 
for  them.  Others  were  for  yielding,  though,  by  so 
doing,  they  did  give  way  to  a  minority  rule.  But  the 
conference  came  to  nothing,  and  when  the  hour  for  the 
meeting  of  the  Convention  arrived  the  members  went 
to  their  seats  in  no  amiable  frame  of  mind. 

The  next  ten  days  were  spent  in  distributing  power 
between  the  States  and  the  General  Government ;  in 
determining  how  the  judges  should  be  appointed ; 
where  impeachments  should  be  tried;  what  jurisdic 
tion  the  Supreme  Court  should  have ;  how  many  sen 
ators  should  be  given  to  each  State;  whether  a  man 
must  own  land  before  he  could  be  eligible  to  Congress, 
to  the  Supreme  Bench,  to  the  Executive  office ;  in  what 
manner  the  Constitution  should  be  ratified.  This  done, 
the  Jersey  plan,  the  South  Carolina  plan,  and  the 
twenty-three  resolutions  of  the  Convention  on  a  na 
tional  government  were  sent  on  July  twenty-sixth  to  a 
committee  with  instructions  to  report  a  constitution. 
The  Convention  then  adjourned  for  two  weeks. 

On  the  committee  were  Gorham,  Ellsworth,  James 
Wilson,  Eandolph,  and  John  Kutledge.  Of  their  do 
ings  nothing  is  known  save  that,  when  the  Convention 
10 


136  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

assembled  on  the  morning  of  Monday,  August  sixth, 
each  member  was  given  a  copy  of  a  draft  of  the  Con 
stitution,  neatly  printed  on  a  broadside.  The  type  was 
large.  The  spaces  between  the  lines  were  wide,  that 
interlineations  might  be  made,  and  the  margin  broad 
for  noting  amendments.  A  few  of  these  broadsides 
have  been  preserved,  and,  when  compared  with  the  Con 
stitution,  show  that  the  amendments  were  many  and  im 
portant.  The  draft  provided  that  the  President  should 
be  chosen  by  Congress,  should  hold  office  during  seven 
years,  and  should  never,  in  the  whole  course  of  his  life, 
have  more  than  one  term ;  the  Constitution  intends  the 
President  shall  be  chosen  by  a  body  of  electors,  and 
puts  no  limit  to  the  number  of  his  terms.  By  the 
draft  he  was  given  a  title  and  was  to  be  called  "  His 
Excellency  "  ;  the  Constitution  provides  for  nothing  of 
this  kind.  By  the  draft  he  could  be  impeached  by  the 
House  of  Representatives,  but  must  be  tried  before  the 
Supreme  Court;  by  the  Constitution  he  must,  when 
impeached,  be  tried  before  the  Senate.  By  the  one  he 
need  not  be  a  native  of  the  United  States;  by  the 
other  he  must.  The  one  made  no  provision  for  a  Vice- 
President;  the  other  does.  The  one  provided  that 
members  of  Congress  should  be  paid  by  the  States  that 
sent  them ;  the  other  provides  that  they  shall  be  paid 
out  of  the  National  Treasury.  In  the  draft,  senators 
were  forbidden  to  hold  office  under  the  authority  of  the 
United  States  till  they  had  been  one  year  out  of  the 
Senate ;  the  Constitution  makes  no  such  requirement. 
By  the  draft,  Congress  was  to  have  power  to  emit  bills 
of  credit,  to  elect  a  Treasurer  of  the  United  States  by 
ballot,  to  fix  the  property  qualifications  of  its  members, 
to  pass  navigation  acts,  and  to  admit  new  States  if  two 


FRAMING  THE  CONSTITUTION.  137 

thirds  of  the  members  present  in  each  House  were  will 
ing  ;  none  of  these  powers  are  known  to  the  Constitu 
tion.  The  draft  provided  but  one  way  of  making 
amendments ;  the  Constitution  provides  two.  Nothing 
was  said  in  the  draft  about  the  passage  of  ex  post  facto 
laws,  about  the  suspension  of  the  habeas  corpus,  about 
granting  patents  to  inventors  and  copyrights  to  authors, 
about  presidential  electors,  or  about  exclusive  jurisdic 
tion  over  an  area  ten  miles  square.  Provision  was  made 
for  a  clumsy  way  of  settling  quarrels  between  States 
concerning  jurisdiction  and  domain. 

As  soon  as  the  delegates  had  read  their  broadsides 
the  work  of  the  revision  began.  To  the  Government 
was  now  given  the  name  "  United  States  of  America." 
The  Legislature  was  called  "  The  Congress  " — the  first 
branch  the  "  House  of  Representatives,"  and  the  second 
branch  the  "  Senate."  The  Executive  was  named  the 
"  President."  Power  to  emit  bills  of  credit  was  stricken 
out.  An  attempt  to  limit  representation  to  free  inhabi 
tants  failed.  An  attempt  to  secure  the  return  of  fugi 
tive  slaves  succeeded.  A  long  series  of  resolutions 
giving  Congress  power  to  regulate  affairs  with  the  In 
dians  ;  set  up  temporary  governments  for  new  States ; 
grant  charters  of  incorporation  ;  establish  a  university ; 
give  a  copyright  to  authors ;  encourage  discoveries ;  ad 
vance  the  useful  arts ;  have  exclusive  jurisdiction  over 
the  seat  of  government;  provide  for  departments  of 
war,  marine,  finance,  commerce,  domestic  affairs,  for 
eign  affairs,  and  State ;  assure  the  payment  of  the  pub 
lic  debts;  guarantee  the  right  of  habeas  corpus  and 
the  liberty  of  the  press ;  prevent  the  quartering  of 
troops  on  the  people  in  time  of  peace ;  and  give  a  privy 
council  to  the  President — were  readily  agreed  to.  In- 


138  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

deed,  but  little  debate  was  provoked  till  the  fourth  and 
sixth  sections  of  the  seventh  article  were  reached. 

These  sections  forbade  Congress  to  lay  a  tax  on  ar 
ticles  exported  from  any  State,  or  to  tax  slaves  im 
ported,  or  to  hinder  the  importation  of  slaves  in  any 
way  whatever,  or  pass  a  navigation  act,  unless  two 
thirds  of  the  members  present  in  each  House  were  will 
ing.  So  much  as  related  to  a  tax  on  exports  was  quickly 
disposed  of.  Southern  members,  indeed,  protested. 
They  declared  that  if  the  power  to  tax  exports  was  not 
given  to  the  General  Government  it  would  remain  with 
the  States ;  that  if  it  remained  with  the  States,  those 
agricultural  would  be  at  the  mercy  of  those  commer 
cial  ;  that  the  whole  South  would  be  made  tributary  to 
the  North.  But  their  fears  were  pronounced  unreason 
able,  the  power  was  not  given  to  Congress,  and  another 
relic  of  the  political  economy  of  the  ancients  was  swept 
away  forever.  So  much  as  related  to  taxing  and  hin 
dering  the  importation  of  slaves  had  been  put  in  to 
please  South  Carolina  and  Georgia.  Except  these  two, 
every  State  was  willing  and  eager  to  stop  the  importa 
tion  of  slaves.  But  the  Convention  was  reminded  that 
the  staples  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  were  indigo 
and  rice ;  that  these  could  not  be  raised  without  slave 
labor ;  that  the  toil  in  the  rice  swamp  and  the  indigo 
field  was  more  than  even  the  brawniest  negro  could 
long  endure ;  that,  if  they  could  not  bring  in  negroes 
from  abroad,  their  industry  and  their  property  were 
gone ;  and  that,  sooner  than  submit  to  this,  they  would 
quit  the  Union. 

The  moment,  therefore,  that  Luther  Martin  moved 
that  the  fourth  section  be  so  changed  that  the  importa 
tion  of  slaves  could  be  taxed,  South  Carolina  declared 


FRAMING  THE  CONSTITUTION.  139 

that  she  would  never  agree  to  it.  If  the  men  from 
other  States  thought  she  would,  they  were  greatly  mis 
taken  ;  they  were,  indeed,  simply  standing  in  their  own 
light.  Let  the  South  have  more  slaves,  and  more  rice, 
more  indigo,  more  pitch  and  tar  would  be  produced ; 
and  the  more  produced,  the  more  for  the  ships  of  the 
New  England  men  to  carry.  In  this  demand  for  the 
free  importation  of  slaves  South  Carolina  was  joined 
by  Connecticut.  Ellsworth  and  Sherman  both  declared 
that  the  clause  ought  to  be  left  as  it  was.  The  old  Con 
federation  had  not  meddled  with  slavery,  and  they  did 
not  see  any  reason  why  the  new  one  should.  What 
enriched  a  part  of  the  Union  enriched  the  whole,  and 
as  to  what  enriched  them,  the  States  were  the  best 
judges. 

That  slavery  could  enrich  any  land  was  flatly  denied. 
"Wherever  it  existed,  Gouverneur  Morris  asserted,  the 
arts  languished  and  industry  fell  into  decay.  Compare 
New  England,  it  was  said,  with  Georgia ;  compare  the 
rich  farms  and  prosperous  villages  of  Pennsylvania  with 
the  barren  and  desolate  wastes  of  Maryland  and  Yir- 
ginia,  and  see  what  a  difference  it  made  whether  a  land 
was  cultivated  by  freemen  or  by  slaves.  The  wealth,  the 
strength,  the  prosperity  of  the  country  depended  on  the 
labor  of  whites,  and  there  could  be  no  white  labor  where 
slavery  existed. 

Convinced  of  this  truth,  Maryland  and  Virginia  had 
forbidden  slaves  to  be  carried  to  their  ports.  North 
Carolina  had  done  almost  as  much.  But  all  this  would 
be  useless  if  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  were  free  to 
bring  in  as  many  as  they  chose.  Already  the  settlers 
in  the  growing  West  were  clamorous  for  slaves  to  till 
their  new  lands,  and  would  fill  that  country  with  ne- 


140  WITH  THE   FATHERS. 

groes  if  they  could  be  had  through  South  Carolina. 
But  did  any  one  suppose  they  would  stop  when  every 
farmer  had  a  full  supply  ?  Were  not  slaves  to  be  rep 
resented  ?  Were  not  five  negroes  to  be  counted  as 
three  whites  ?  Would  not  the  political  power  of  the 
South  increase  with  the  increase  of  her  slaves  ?  Here, 
then,  was  a  new  incentive  for  a  free  importation,  a  new 
encouragement  to  the  traffic.  More  than  this,  slavery 
corrupted  manners,  turned  masters  into  petty  tyrants, 
and  was  utterly  inconsistent  with  the  principles  of  the 
American  Revolution  and  dishonorable  to  the  American 
character. 

All  this,  it  was  admitted,  might  be  so.  But  honor, 
religion,  humanity,  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  question. 
The  question  was,  Shall  or  shall  not  the  Southern 
States  be  parties  to  the  Union  ?  With  the  slave-trade 
prohibited,  South  Carolina,  for  one,  never  would.  To 
this  it  was  answered,  If  two  States  will  not  take  the  Con 
stitution,  if  the  importation  of  slaves  is  taxed,  there  are 
other  States  that  will  not  take  the  Constitution  if  the 
importation  of  slaves  is  not  taxed.  The  exemption  of 
slaves  from  duty  when  every  other  import  is  taxed  is 
an  inequality  to  which  the  commercial  States  of  the 
North  and  East  will  not  submit. 

At  this  point  Gouverneur  Morris  proposed  that  the 
taxation  of  exports,  of  slaves  imported,  and  the  question 
of  a  navigation  act  should  be  sent  to  a  committee. 
They  were,  he  said,  fit  subjects  for  "  a  bargain  among 
the  Northern  and  Southern  States."  Sherman,  and 
Randolph,  and  Pinckney,  and  Ellsworth,  and  a  dozen 
more  thought  so  too,  and  the  fourth  and  fifth  sections 
went  to  a  Committee  of  Five. 

The  sixth  section  soon  followed  them.     This  pro- 


FRAMING  THE  CONSTITUTION.  141 

vided  that  no  navigation  act  should  be  passed  without 
the  assent  of  two  thirds  of  the  members  present  in  each 
House,  and  was  as  hateful  to  the  East  as  a  restriction 
on  the  importation  of  slaves  was  to  the  South.  The 
committee,  therefore,  had  not  been  long  in  session  be 
fore  it  was  apparent  that  the  New  England  States,  de 
spite  the  sentiments  they  held  on  slavery,  were  ready 
to  make  just  such  a  bargain  as  Morris  proposed.  If 
the  South  would  consent  to  strike  out  the  sixth  section 
and  give  Congress  power  to  pass  navigation  acts,  the 
East  would  consent  to  the  importation  of  slaves  for  a 
limited  time.  The  South  did  consent.  The  bargain 
was  struck,  and  the  committee  advised  that  the  sixth 
section  should  be  stricken  out,  that  the  fifth  should  be 
left  as  it  was,  and  that  the  fourth  should  be  so  changed 
that  the  importation  of  slaves  should  not  be  forbidden 
before  1800. 

Having  obtained  so  much,  the  South  wanted  more, 
and  insisted  that  the  time  should  be  extended  till  1808. 
The  East  readily  agreed,  and  so  made  good  their  part 
of  the  bargain.  It  now  remained  for  the  South  to  do 
likewise ;  but  the  South  began  to  object.  Much  was 
said  about  being  in  the  minority,  about  being  bound 
hand  and  foot,  about  having  Southern  trade  at  the 
mercy  of  the  ship-owning  States.  If  a  majority  of 
Congress  could  pass  a  navigation  act,  the  New  Eng- 
landers  would  shut  out  foreign  ships,  get  all  the  carry 
ing  trade  of  the  country  for  themselves,  and  then  de 
mand  ruinous  prices  for  carrying  tobacco,  rice,  and 
indigo  to  Europe.  Congress  ought  not  to  have  any 
power  over  trade.  The  most,  therefore,  that  the  South 
would  yield  was  that  a  two-thirds  vote  should  be  neces 
sary  for  the  exercise  of  this  power. 


U2  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

The  Eastern  States  protested  that  the  restriction 
must  be  taken  off ;  that  it  would  ruin  them  not  to  be 
able  to  defend  themselves  against  foreign  regulations. 
If  the  new  Government  were  to  be  so  fettered  as  to  be 
unable  to  relieve  the  commerce  of  the  Eastern  States, 
what  motive  could  there  be  for  them  to  join  it  ?  Dis 
union  was  to  be  lamented  ;  but,  if  it  came,  the  South 
would  be  the  chief  sufferer. 

The  majority  of  the  Southern  members  had  been 
put  in  good  humor  by  the  two  concessions  of  the  East, 
that  exports  should  not  be  taxed  and  that  slaves  should 
be  imported  till  1808,  and  by  their  influence  the  third 
compromise  was  carried. 

The  Convention  then  went  on  for  a  week  striking 
out  words  here,  putting  in  resolutions  there,  and  bring 
ing  the  draft  nearer  and  nearer  the  Constitution  as 
we  now  have  it.  On  the  last  day  of  August  the  post 
poned  sections  and  the  parts  of  committee  reports  not 
acted  on  were  sent  to  a  Committee  of  Eleven.  This 
committee  reported  from  time  to  time  till  September 
eighth,  when  all  that  had  been  done  was  sent  to  a  Com 
mittee  on  Arrangement  and  Style.  Saturday,  the  fif 
teenth,  their  work  was  accepted  and  ordered  to  be 
engrossed.  On  that  day,  as  the  question  was  about  to 
be  put  for  the  last  time,  the  delegates  who  disliked  the 
Constitution  began  to  make  excuses  for  withholding 
their  support.  Mason  lamented  that  a  bare  majority  of 
Congress  could  pass  a  navigation  act,  and  moved  that 
no  such  act  should  be  passed  prior  to  1808.  But  noth 
ing  came  of  it.  Randolph  asked  that  the  State  conven 
tions  to  which  the  Constitution  was  to  be  submitted 
might  submit  amendments  to  a  second  Federal  Conven 
tion.  Mason  approved  this.  The  Constitution,  he  said, 


FRAMING  THE  CONSTITUTION.  143 

had  been  formed  without  the  knowledge  of  the  people. 
It  was  not  right  to  say  to  them,  Take  this  or  nothing. 
A  second  convention  would  know  their  wishes.  Gerry 
named  nine  features  which  he  especially  disliked. 

Alarmed  at  this  opposition,  Franklin  spent  Sunday 
in  preparing  a  little  speech  to  be  read  to  the  dissenters. 
But,  when  Monday  came,  when  the  members  were  in 
their  seats,  and  the  Constitution,  ready  for  signature, 
lay  upon  the  table,  he  found  himself  too  weak,  and 
James  Wilson  read  the  paper  for  him.  He  was,  he 
said,  an  old  man,  and  had  often,  in  the  course  of  a  long 
life,  been  forced  to  change  opinions  he  was  once  sure 
were  right.  As  he  grew  older,  therefore,  he  had  learned 
to  doubt  his  own  judgment  and  to  pay  more  respect  to 
the  judgments  of  others.  Steele  in  one  of  his  dedica 
tions  told  Pope  that  the  only  difference  between  the 
Church  of  England  and  the  Church  of  Rome  in  their 
opinion  on  the  certainty  of  their  doctrine  was  this  :  The 
Church  of  Rome  was  infallible ;  the  Church  of  Eng 
land  was  never  in  the  wrong.  He  had  heard  of  a  cer 
tain  French  lady  who,  in  a  quarrel  with  her  sister,  said : 
"  I  do  not  know  how  it  is,  sister,  but  I  meet  with  no 
body  but  myself  that  is  always  in  the  right."  Doubt 
ing  his  own  opinion,  he  agreed  to  the  Constitution  with 
all  its  faults,  if  it  had  any.  He  had  expected  no  better, 
and  he  was  not  sure  that  it  was  not  the  best.  He  hoped 
that  each  member  who  still  had  objections  would  do 
likewise — doubt  a  little  of  his  own  infallibility  and  sign 
the  document.  As  a  good  form  he  would  propose, 
"  Done  in  convention  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the 
States  present,  etc."  Gouverneur  Morris  drew  up  this 
form,  in  hopes  that  men  who  would  not  sign  as  indi 
viduals  would  sign  as  State  delegates.  He  gave  it  to 


WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

Franklin  to  bring  before  the  Convention,  thinking  that, 
supported  by  him,  it  would  have  great  weight. 

As  soon  as  Wilson  had  finished  reading,  Gorham 
rose  and  moved  that  the  ratio  of  representation  be 
changed  from  one  for  every  forty  thousand  to  one  for 
every  thirty  thousand.  No  debate  followed,  and  as 
Washington  was  about  to  put  the  question,  he  expressed 
a  hope  that  the  change  would  be  made.  The  smallness 
of  the  proportion  of  representatives  had  always  seemed 
to  him  an  objectionable  part  of  the  plan. 

The  change  was  made,  the  form  of  ratification  pro 
posed  by  Morris  was  carried,  the  journals  and  papers 
deposited  in  the  hands  of  the  President,  and  toward 
evening  the  members  began  to  sign.  Sixteen  refused. 
Luther  Martin  had  followed  the  examples  of  Yates  and 
Lansing,  had  quit  the  Convention  and  gone  home  to 
Maryland  in  disgust.  Gerry  feared  a  civil  war ;  Ran 
dolph  was  convinced  the  consent  of  nine  States  could 
never  be  obtained :  Mason  was  sure  they  were  about  to 
set  up  a  monarchy  or  a  tyranny,  he  did  not  know  which, 
and  none  of  them  would  sign.  The  rest  of  the  sixteen 
carefully  kept  out  of  the  room. 

Washington  was  first  to  sign.  When  he  had  done 
BO,  the  other  delegates  went  up  one  after  another  in  the 
geographical  order  of  their  States,  beginning  with  the 
East.  Hamilton  alone  signed  for  New  York.  As  the 
Southern  members  were  affixing  their  names,  Franklin, 
looking  toward  the  President's  chair,  on  the  back  of 
which  was  cut  a  sun,  said  to  those  about  him  that 
painters  had  found  it  difficult  to  distinguish  a  rising 
from  a  setting  sun.  "  I  have,"  said  he,  "  often  and 
often  in  the  course  of  the  session,  and  the  solicitude  of 
my  hopes  and  fears  as  to  its  issue,  looked  at  that  be- 


FRAMING  THE  CONSTITUTION.  145 

hind  the  President  without  being  able  to  tell  whether  it 
was  rising  or  setting.  But  now  at  length  I  know  that 
it  is  a  rising  and  not  a  setting  sun." 

When  the  Convention  rose  that  evening,  it  rose  never 
to  sit  again. 

As  early  as  possible  on  the  eighteenth  of  Septem 
ber,  Major  Jackson,  the  Secretary,  set  out  for  New 
York  to  lay  the  Constitution,  the  accompanying  resolu 
tions  of  the  Convention,  and  the  letter  of  Washington 
before  Congress.  But  that  body  was  not  to  be  the  first 
to  receive  it.  The  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  was  in 
session,  and  to  it  the  Constitution  was  read  on  the 
morning  of  the  eighteenth.  Copies  were  at  once  given 
to  the  printers  in  the  city,  and  on  the  nineteenth,  long 
before  Major  Jackson  reached  New  York,  the  people 
of  Philadelphia  were  reading  it  in  the  Packet,  the  Jour 
nal,  and  the  Gazetteer.  September  twentieth,  the  docu 
ments  were  laid  before  Congress  and  the  next  day 
were  published  in  the  newspapers  at  New  York. 

Meanwhile  such  delegates  to  the  Convention  as  were 
members  of  Congress  were  hurrying  back  to  New  York ; 
and  well  they  might,  for  in  Congress  the  enemies  of  the 
Constitution  were  many  and  bitter.  The  delegation 
from  New  York  opposed  it  to  a  man ;  and  with  them 
were  joined  Nathan  Dane,  William  Grayson,  of  Vir 
ginia,  and  R.  H.  Lee.  Congress,  they  held,  could  give 
no  countenance  to  the  Constitution.  That  document 
was  a  plan  for  a  new  government.  A  new  government 
could  not  be  set  up  till  the  old  Confederation  had  been 
pulled  down,  and  to  pull  down  the  Confederation  was 
not  in  the  power  of  Congress,  for  that  body  could  not 
destroy  the  Government  by  whose  authority  it  owed 
existence.  The  answer  was  that  Congress  had  sane- 


146  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

tioned  the  Convention,  and  that,  if  it  could  sanction  the 
call  for  the  Convention,  it  could  sanction  the  work  the 
Convention  did.  But  Lee  and  his  followers  would  not 
listen  to  argument,  and  on  September  twenty-sixth  he 
moved  that  a  bill  of  rights  and  a  long  list  of  amend 
ments  should  be  added  to  the  Constitution.  He  would 
have  no  Yice-President,  more  congressmen,  more  than 
a  majority  to  pass  an  act  regulating  commerce,  and  a 
council  of  state  to  be  joined  with  the  President  in  mak 
ing  all  appointments.  Congress,  however,  would  not 
seriously  consider  his  amendments,  and  the  next  day  it 
was  moved  that  the  Constitution  be  sent  to  the  execu 
tives  of  the  States,  to  be  by  them  submitted  to  their 
respective  legislatures.  Instantly  it  was  moved  to  add 
the  words,  "  in  order  to  be  by  them  submitted  to  a  con 
vention  of  delegates  to  be  chosen  agreeably  to  the  said 
resolution  of  the  Convention,"  and  the  motion  was  car 
ried.  It  was  now  quite  clear  that  neither  party  could 
have  all  that  it  wanted.  The  Federalists  wished  to 
send  the  Constitution  to  the  States  by  the  unanimous 
vote  of  Congress ;  but  this  they  could  not  do  so  long 
as  the  delegates  from  New  York  held  out.  The  Anti- 
federalists  wished  to  send  it  to  the  States  without  one 
word  of  approval ;  but  this  they  could  not  do  unless  the 
Federalists  consented.  When,  therefore,  Congress  met 
on  the  twenty-eighth,  each  party  gave  up  something. 
The  Antif ederalists  agreed  to  unanimity ;  the  Federal 
ists  agreed  to  withhold  all  marks  of  approval.  The 
amendments  offered  by  Lee  on  the  twenty-sixth,  and 
the  vote  on  the  twenty-seventh,  were  then  expunged 
from  the  journal,  and  the  Constitution,  the  letter  of 
Washington,  and  the  resolution  of  the  Convention,  were 
sent  to  the  States.  Twenty  hours  later  the  Legislature 


FRAMING  THE  CONSTITUTION.  147 

of  Pennsylvania  called  a  State  Convention  to  consider 
the  Constitution. 

By  the  provisions  of  that  instrument  the  ratification 
by  nine  States  was  to  put  it  in  force.  Before  the  year 
closed,  Delaware  and  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey 
had  done  so.  Georgia  and  Connecticut  followed  in 
January,  1788.  In  February  came  Massachusetts  with 
nine  amendments.  In  April  came  Maryland,  and  in 
May  South  Carolina  with  four  amendments.  In  June 
New  Hampshire  ratified  with  twelve  amendments,  and 
the  list  of  nine  States  was  complete.  "  The  Good  Ship 
Constitution,"  as  the  Federalists  delighted  to  call  that 
instrument,  was  now  fairly  launched.  "  The  New 
Roof "  was  up,  finished,  and  firmly  supported  by  nine 
stout  pillars,  and,  while  the  rejoicings  over  its  comple 
tion  were  still  going  on,  news  came  that  it  was  to  be 
upheld  by  two  pillars  more.  Virginia  and  New  York 
had  ratified.  Virginia  offered  twenty  amendments  and 
a  bill  of  rights ;  the  amendments  offered  by  New  York 
numbered  thirty-two. 

Nowhere  else  had  the  contest  been  so  long  and  so 
bitter.  In  some  States  the  people  disliked  the  Consti 
tution  because  the  liberty  of  the  press  was  not  secured, 
because  there  was  to  be  no  trial  by  jury  in  civil  cases, 
because  the  name  of  God  was  not  to  be  found  in  it,  be 
cause  there  was  to  be  no  more  rotation  in  office,  because 
there  was  no  bill  of  rights,  because  there  was  no  relig 
ious  qualification  for  office,  because  there  were  to  be 
slave  representation  and  the  importation  of  slaves  for 
one-and-twenty  years.  But  in  New  York  the  Constitu 
tion  was  hated  from  beginning  to  end.  Nor  would  the 
Convention  ratify  it  till  the  Federal  members  solemnly 
agreed  that  the  States  should  be  invited  to  a  new  Fed- 


148  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

eral  Convention,  to  which  it  should  be  submitted  for 
amendment.  Clinton  accordingly  issued  the  call.  But 
the  States  most  happily  did  not  favorably  respond. 
Some  malcontents  of  Pennsylvania  did,  indeed,  hold  a 
Convention  at  Harrisburg  in  September,  1788,  and  there 
drew  up  some  amendments  which  they  referred  to  the 
Convention  called  by  New  York.  But  of  this  action, 
also,  nothing  came.  September  thirteenth,  1788,  Con 
gress  fixed  upon  the  first  Wednesday  in  January,  1789, 
as  the  day  for  choosing  presidential  electors,  the  first 
Wednesday  in  February  for  the  meeting  of  the  electors, 
and  the  first  Wednesday  in  March  as  the  day  the  Con 
stitution  was  to  become  law.  Five  weeks  later  the 
Congress  of  the  Confederation  expired  ignominiously 
for  want  of  a  quorum. 

As  yet  the  Constitution  was  without  amendments. 
But  the  first  session  had  not  closed  when  Yirginia  sent 
in  a  petition  begging  Congress  not  to  rise  till  action 
had  been  taken  on  those  offered  by  the  States.  Madi 
son  accordingly  drew  up  and  presented  to  the  House 
nine  amendments,  which  are  almost  identically  the  nine 
suggested  by  the  minority  of  the  Pennsylvania  Conven 
tion  in  an  address  to  their  constituents.  Of  these  in 
time  the  House  made  seventeen.  Of  the  seventeen  the 
Senate  made  twelve,  and  of  the  twelve,  the  States 
adopted  ten,  which  were  declared  in  force  December 
fifteenth,  1791.  Another  was  added  in  1798,  and  still 
another  in  1804;  after  which,  though  many  were 
offered,  none  were  accepted  till  the  close  of  the  civil 
war. 

The  amendments  proposed  by  the  first  Congress  re 
moved,  in  great  part,  the  objections  of  the  Antifederal- 
ists,  and  the  two  States  that  were  still  refractory  began 


FRAMING  THE  CONSTITUTION.  149 

to  show  signs  of  giving  way.  In  November,  1789, 
North  Carolina  consented  to  join  the  Union.  But  six 
months  passed,  and  Rhode  Island  held  out.  Then, 
when  the  United  States  was  about  to  treat  her  as  a  for 
eign  power,  when  the  revenue  laws  were  about  to  be 
enforced  against  her,  when  it  seemed  likely  that  a  great 
exodus  of  her  most  worthy  citizens  would  take  place, 
the  Federalists  carried  the  ratification  of  the  Constitu 
tion  by  a  vote  of  thirty -four  to  thirty-two.  But  the 
victory  was  not  with  them  alone,  for  their  opponents 
added  a  long  bill  of  rights  and  twenty  amendments, 
which,  it  was  jeeringly  said  elsewhere,  was  more  than 
one  for  each  town  in  the  State. 


WASHINGTON'S  INAUGUKATION. 

THE  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  as  every 
one  knows,  was  framed  by  a  Convention  of  delegates 
from  twelve  States,  sitting  behind  closed  doors  in  the 
old  State-House  at  Philadelphia.  After  a  stormy  ses 
sion  of  four  months  the  "  Dark  Conclave,"  as  the  Anti- 
federalists  delighted  to  call  the  Convention,  ended  its 
labors  September  seventeenth,  1787,  signed  the  Consti 
tution,  and  sent  the  document  to  Congress,  to  be  in  turn 
transmitted  to  the  States.  This  done,  the  States  began  to 
act  at  once,  and,  when  the  year  closed,  Delaware,  Penn 
sylvania,  and  New  Jersey  had  accepted  the  Constitu 
tion  without  amendments.  Georgia  and  Connecticut 
ratified  in  January,  1788,  and  were  followed  in  quick 
succession  by  Massachusetts,  Maryland,  South  Carolina, 
New  Hampshire,  and  Virginia.  Under  the  Articles  of 
Confederation  the  assent  of  nine  States  in  Congress 
assembled  was  necessary  to  pass  an  ordinance  of  any 
importance.  This  rule  the  Convention  had  adopted, 
and  had  provided  that  the  assent  of  nine  States  should 
dissolve  the  old  Confederation,  should  set  up  the  Con 
stitution,  and  make  it  the  supreme  law  for  each  of  the 
ratifying  States.  When,  therefore,  on  July  second,  1788, 
the  President  of  Congress  rose  and  announced  the  rati 
fication  by  New  Hampshire,  he  reminded  the  members 

150 


WASHINGTON'S  INAUGURATION.  151 

that  the  needed  number  was  complete,  that  the  new 
plan  of  government  was  approved,  and  that  it  remained 
for  Congress  to  make  such  provisions  and  to  take  such 
steps  as  were  necessary  to  put  it  into  force.  An  ordi 
nance  was  thereupon  passed,  and  a  committee  chosen 
to  examine  the  notices  of  ratification  and  report  an  act 
for  putting  the  Constitution  into  operation. 

The  duty  of  the  committee-men  seemed  simple 
enough.  They  were  to  name  a  day  on  which  the  States 
should  choose  electors  of  President  and  Yice-President, 
a  day  on  which  the  electors  should  vote,  and  a  day  and 
a  place  for  the  meeting  of  the  Senate  and  House,  and 
the  beginning  of  government  under  the  new  plan.  But, 
simple  as  it  seemed,  the  committee  found  it  hard  to 
perform.  Indeed,  two  weeks  went  by  before  they  re 
ported  an  act  providing  for  the  needed  days,  but  leav 
ing  the  place  of  meeting  blank.  Nor  did  Congress  suc 
ceed  in  filling  that  blank  till  a  great  display  of  sectional 
feeling  had  been  made,  and  a  long  and  bitter  contest 
ended.  Every  one  agreed  that  the  place  should  be  cen 
tral,  and  that  central  should  mean  somewhere  between 
the  shores  of  Chesapeake  Bay  and  the  mouth  of  the  Hud 
son  Biver.  "Within  these  limits,  however,  were  many 
large  and  opulent  towns,  and  which  had  the  best  claim 
to  be  considered  central,  Congress  was  long  unable  to 
say.  Some  members  insisted  that  population  should  be 
considered,  pointed  out  that  more  people  dwelt  south 
of  the  Potomac  than  north  of  it,  and  thought  Balti 
more  or  Annapolis  would  be  a  good  town.  Others  were 
for  considering  distances,  and  urged  "Wilmington  and 
Lancaster  and  Philadelphia  as  places  no  farther  from  the 
eastern  border  of  the  province  of  Maine  than  the  south 
ern  border  of  Georgia.  Still  others,  on  the  ground  of 
11 


152  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

policy  and  economy,  stood  out  for  New  York.  To  be 
constantly  shifting  the  government  from  place  to  place 
was  to  make  it  seem  weak  and  unstable,  and  sure  to 
bring  it  into  contempt  among  the  people.  To  pack  up 
cart-loads  of  books  and  tons  of  papers  and  drag  them 
over  the  country,  unless  they  went  forth  to  that  Fed 
eral  city  which  was  to  be  the  lasting  home  of  the  new 
Congress,  was  a  piece  of  wanton  extravagance. 

These  arguments  fell  on  dull  ears.  For  a  time  all 
was  jealousy,  local  bias,  petty  spite.  September  was 
almost  half  gone  when  Congress  finally  decided  that 
the  States  should  choose  electors  on  the  first  Wednes 
day  in  January,  1789,  that  the  electors  should  cast  their 
votes  on  the  first  Wednesday  in  February,  and  that  the 
new  Congress  should  meet  on  the  first  Wednesday  in 
March  in  the  city  of  New  York. 

The  history  of  the  Congress  thus  about  to  expire  is 
worth  recalling.  It  begins  with  the  meeting  of  the 
fifty-three  colonial  delegates  who,  in  September,  1774, 
assembled  at  Philadelphia.  Gathered  in  response  to 
the  call  of  Massachusetts,  they  passed  the  non-inter 
course,  non-importation,  non-consumption  agreement; 
issued  the  colonial  Declaration  of  Rights;  drew  the 
famous  address  to  the  King  and  the  address  to  the  Peo 
ple  of  Great  Britain,  and  after  a  session  of  eight  weeks 
called  a  new  Congress  to  meet  in  May,  1775,  and  ad 
journed.  But  long  before  the  tenth  of  May  arrived 
the  crisis  in  the  quarrel  with  the  mother  country  was 
reached,  the  stores  at  Concord  were  destroyed,  the  bat 
tle  of  Lexington  was  fought,  and  the  new  Congress, 
seizing  authority  that  had  not  been  given,  entered  at 
once  on  the  conduct  of  the  war. 

Between  the  day  when  this  Congress  met  and  the 


WASHINGTON'S  INAUGURATION.  153 

day  when  the  Articles  of  Confederation  were  put  in 
force  a  period  of  seventy  months  went  by.  During 
these  seventy  months  the  Congress  of  the  United  States 
acted  under  no  constitutional  authority  whatever.  The 
States  were  parties  to  no  instrument  of  government, 
and  every  act  committed  by  their  delegates  was  done 
with  the  tacit  or  express  consent  of  the  States.  No  sys 
tem  of  representation  was  in  use.  To  the  secret  delib 
erations  of  the  little  Body  that  bore  the  name  of  the 
Congress  came  delegates  chosen  in  such  a  way  and  in 
such  numbers  and  bearing  such  instructions  as  best 
pleased  the  States  that  sent  them.  Once  seated  in  Con 
gress,  these  men  found  themselves  members  of  what  a 
few  years  later  would  have  been  denounced  as  a  "  dark 
and  secret  conclave."  The  doors  were  shut,  no  specta 
tors  were  suffered  to  hear  what  was  said,  no  reports  of 
the  debates  were  taken  down  in  short-hand  or  long 
hand  ;  but  under  a  strict  injunction  of  secrecy  they  went 
on  deliberating  day  after  day.  From  month  to  month 
so  much  of  the  journal  as  Congress  thought  fit  was  in 
deed  given  to  the  people ;  but  Congress  thought  fit  to 
give  merely  a  dry  record  of  ordinances  passed,  of  mo 
tions  made,  of  reports  read,  of  committees  chosen. 
Over  these  deliberations  presided  a  President  elected 
by  the  Congress,  and  looked  up  to  as  the  representative 
of  the  sovereignty  of  the  States  united  for  common  de 
fence.  As  such,  his  house,  his  table,  his  servants,  were 
all  provided  at  public  cost.  But  the  expense  of  every 
other  delegate  was  borne  by  the  State  that  sent  him. 

Thus  formed,  the  Continental  Congress  no  sooner 
met  in  1775  than  it  proceeded,  without  any  authority, 
to  raise  armies,  equip  navies,  to  borrow  money,  to  set 
up  a  post-office,  to  send  out  ministers,  to  make  treaties, 


154  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

and  to  do  innumerable  acts  of  sovereignty  in  the  name 
of  the  States.  It  was  the  Continental  Congress  that 
commissioned  Washington;  that  sent  Franklin  to  the 
court  of  France ;  that  voted  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence  ;  that  framed  the  Articles  of  Confederation ; 
that  advised  the  colonies  to  throw  off  all  allegiance  to 
the  King  and  "  take  up  civil  government." 

The  Articles  of  Confederation  went  out  to  the  States 
in  1777,  but  it  was  not  till  the  first  of  March,  1781, 
that  the  thirteenth  State  signed  and  put  them  into  force. 
Meanwhile  the  Congress  was  fast  sinking  into  open 
contempt  among  the  people.  The  great  things  which 
it  did  were  soon  forgotten  ;  the  things  which  it  did  not 
do  were  long  remembered.  Most  of  its  dealings  were 
with  the  States.  In  but  a  few  ways  did  it  touch  the 
people,  and  in  the  most  delicate  of  these  its  record  is 
that  of  disaster  after  disaster.  The  bills  of  credit 
which  no  one  would  take,  the  loan  offices  set  up  in 
every  State,  the  Congress  lottery  that  failed  so  mis 
erably,  the  forty  for  one  act,  the  old  tenor  and  the  new 
tenor,  commissary  certificates,  quartermaster  certificates, 
hospital  certificates,  interest  indents,  were  constant  re 
minders  of  the  financial  imbecility  of  Congress,  and 
did  far  more  to  bring  it  into  contempt  than  any  of  its 
great  acts  did  to  bring  it  into  honor.  Every  other  ex 
pression  of  contempt,  "  not  worth  a  farthing,"  "  not 
worth  a  tinker's  dam,"  gave  way  to  the  new  expression 
of  worthlessness,  "  not  worth  a  continental." 

Happily,  at  this  juncture,  the  Confederation  was  fin 
ished,  and  Congress,  for  the  first  time  in  its  history,  met 
under  the  shadow  of  constitutional  authority.  Great 
things  were  expected  of  the  Union,  and  for  a  time  it 
seemed  likely  that  the  expectations  would  be  fulfilled. 


WASHINGTON'S  INAUGURATION.  155 

But  when  Congress  organized  under  the  newly  ratified 
Articles  of  Confederation  in  November,  1781,  Cornwal- 
lis  had  surrendered,  the  war  had  virtually  ended,  and 
the  Confederation  began  at  once  to  fall  in  pieces.  By 
the  Articles  the  character  of  the  Congress  was  little 
changed.  The  President  was  still  chosen  by  the  mem 
bers.  The  members  were  chosen  annually ;  could  not 
serve  more  than  three  years  in  any  term  of  six  ;  could 
not  be  more  than  seven  nor  less  than  two  from  any 
State,  and  were  paid  by  those  who  sent  them.  As  the 
charge  of  maintaining  them  was  not  light,  as  no  dele 
gation,  however  large,  could  cast  more  than  one  vote, 
a  strong  incentive  was  created  to  keep  the  delega 
tions  down  to  two,  and  in  time  to  send  none  at  all. 
Twenty  delegates,  representing  seven  States,  were  pres 
ent  when  Washington  resigned  command  of  the  army. 
Twenty-three  delegates,  from  eleven  States,  voted  to 
ratify  the  treaty  of  peace  with  Great  Britain.  Thence 
forth,  to  the  end  of  its  career,  Congress  rarely  consisted 
of  twenty-five  members.  Again  and  again  it  was  forced 
to  adjourn  day  after  day  for  want  of  a  quorum.  Once 
these  adjournments  covered  thirteen  consecutive  days. 
Ordinances  of  trifling  importance  could  be  passed  by 
the  assent  of  a  majority  of  the  States.  But  no  meas 
ure  of  importance,  no  ordinance  to  provide  for  the 
issue  of  money,  the  payment  of  the  debt,  the  ratifica 
tion  of  a  treaty,  the  raising  of  a  body  of  troops,  could 
pass  unless  nine  States  assented.  Most  of  the  time  but 
eleven  States  were  represented.  Of  these  eleven  it 
often  happened  that  nine  had  but  two  delegates  each, 
and  it  thus  became  possible  for  three  men  to  defeat  the 
weightiest  measures. 

Acting  on  the  States  and  not  on  the  people,  Con- 


156  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

gress  never  won  the  affections  of  the  people,  but  was 
looked  on,  was  spoken  of,  was  treated,  as  a  foreign  gov 
ernment  rather  than  a  creature  of  their  own  making. 
When  a  band  of  ploughmen  gathered  under  the  window 
of  its  room  at  Philadelphia  and  broke  up  its  sitting  with 
taunts  and  threats,  not  a  citizen  could  be  found  willing 
to  aid  in  defending  it.  Driven  from  the  city,  it  fled  to 
Princeton,  and  there  found  a  refuge  under  the  guns  of 
fifteen  hundred  soldiers.  From  Princeton  it  soon  ad 
journed  to  Annapolis.  There,  disgusted  at  the  perpet 
ual  sitting  of  Congress,  the  Rhode  Island  delegates,  act 
ing  under  instructions  from  their  Legislature,  moved  a 
recess.  This  was  carried,  and,  as  the  Articles  of  Con 
federation  required,  a  committee  of  the  States  was  chosen 
to  sit  during  the  recess.  But  the  members  quarrelled, 
separated  with  bitter  words,  and  for  two  months  the 
country  was  without  a  general  government  of  any  kind. 
In  November,  1784,  the  Congress  reassembled  at  Tren 
ton,  and  from  Trenton  in  time  they  adjourned  to  New 
York.  In  the  taverns,  meanwhile,  the  wits  were  ex 
pressing  their  contempt  in  the  popular  toasts,  "  A  hoop 
for  the  barrel,"  "  Cement  for  the  Union."  In  the  news 
papers  Congress  was  likened  to  a  wheel  rolling  from 
Dan  to  Beersheba  and  from  Beersheba  to  Dan.  Neg 
lected  by  its  members,  insulted  by  the  troops,  a  wan 
derer  from  town  to  town,  the  subject  of  jest  by  the  peo 
ple,  the  Congress  of  the  Confederation  sank  rapidly  to 
the  condition  of  a  debating  club.  It  made  requisitions 
that  never  were  heeded,  voted  monuments  that  never 
were  put  up,  rewarded  great  men  with  sums  of  money 
that  never  were  paid,  planned  wise  schemes  for  the  pay 
ment  of  the  debt  that  never  were  carried  out,  and  looked 
on  in  helplessness  while  English  troops  held  and  forti- 


WASHINGTON'S  INAUGURATION.  157 

fied  American  forts,  while  State  after  State  openly  vio 
lated  the  Articles  of  the  Confederation,  refused  it  power 
to  regulate  trade,  refused  it  power  to  lay  a  tax  on  im 
ported  goods,  and  finally  called  that  Convention  which, 
in  1787,  framed  the  Constitution  and%  gave  to  Con 
gress  the  duty  of  fixing  the  day  when  it  should  cease  to 
exist. 

Having  thus  fixed  the  day  of  its  death,  the  Conti 
nental  Congress  of  the  Confederation  began  to  die  fast. 
When  the  ordinance  passed,  on  the  thirteenth  of  Sep 
tember,  1788,  nine  States  were  present.  September 
eighteenth,  this  number  had  dwindled  to  six.  October 
fourteenth,  there  were  but  two  in  attendance,  and  all 
government  was  ended.  Day  after  day  a  few  delegates 
— sometimes  six,  sometimes  two — would  saunter  into  the 
hall,  have  the  secretary  take  down  their  names,  and  then 
go  off  to  their  favorite  tavern.  But  no  sittings  were 
held,  no  business  was  done,  and  the  Congress  whose 
name  is  bound  up  with  so  much  that  is  glorious  in  the 
annals  of  our  country  expired  ignominiously  for  want 
of  a  quorum. 

While  these  few  men,  true  to  their  trust,  were  striv 
ing  to  keep  up  the  semblance  of  a  Congress,  the  first 
Wednesday  in  January,  1789,  arrived,  and  electors  were 
chosen  in  all  of  the  ratifying  States  save  New  York. 
In  that  great  Commonwealth  the  choice  was  to  be  made 
by  the  Legislature,  and  the  Legislature  was  divided 
against  itself.  The  Assembly  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
Clinton  men,  and  strongly  Antifederal.  The  Senate 
was  in  the  hands  of  the  friends  of  Hamilton,  and  was 
by  a  small  majority  Federal.  The  bill  which  the  As 
sembly  framed  provided  that  the  Senate  and  Assembly, 
having  each  nominated  eight  electors,  should  meet  and 


158  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

compare  lists,  that  men  whose  names  were  in  both  lists 
should  be  considered  elected,  and  that  from  those  whose 
names  were  not  in  both  lists  one  half  of  the  needed 
number  should  be  chosen  by  each  branch  of  the  Legis 
lature.  The  Senate  amended  the  bill  by  proposing  that 
the  two  branches  of  the  Legislature  should  not  meet, 
but  should  exchange  lists,  and  that,  if  the  lists  differed, 
each  branch  should  propose  names  to  the  other  for  con 
currence,  and  should  go  on  doing  so  till  all  the  electors 
were  chosen.  The  Assembly  promptly  rejected  the 
amendment ;  a  conference  followed ;  the  Senate  stood 
firm,  and  no  electors  were  chosen.  New  York,  there 
fore,  cast  no  vote  in  the  first  Presidential  election,  and 
had  no  representative  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate  during 
the  first  session  of  the  first  Congress  under  the  Consti 
tution. 

Yery  similar  was  the  quarrel  that  took  place  in  New 
Hampshire.  There  the  law  gave  the  people  the  right 
of  nominating,  and  the  Legislature  the  power  of  ap 
pointing,  but  was  silent  as  to  the  way  in  which  the  ap 
pointment  should  be  made.  The  Assembly  was  for  a 
joint  ballot.  This  the  Senate  would  not  hear  of,  and 
stood  out  for  a  negative  on  the  action  of  the  Assembly 
as  complete  and  final  as  in  the  cases  of  resolutions  and 
bills  ;  a  wrangle  followed,  and  midnight  of  the  seventh 
of  January  was  close  at  hand,  when  the  Assembly  gave 
way,  made  an  angry  protest,  and  chose  electors,  each 
one  of  whom  was  a  Federalist. 

In  Massachusetts  the  General  Court  chose  two  elec 
tors  at  large,  and  eight  more  from  a  list  of  sixteen  names 
sent  up  from  the  eight  congressional  districts.  In  Penn 
sylvania  the  choice  was  by  direct  vote  of  the  people,  and 
the  counties  beyond  the  mountains  being  strongly  Anti- 


WASHINGTON'S  INAUGURATION.  159 

federal,  two  general  tickets  were  promptly  in  the  field. 
On  the  Lancaster  ticket  were  the  names  of  ten  Feder 
alists  well  known  to  be  firm  supporters  of  Washington. 
On  the  Harrisburg  ticket  were  the  names  of  men  who 
had  signed  the  address  and  reasons  of  dissent  of  the  mi 
nority  of  the  Pennsylvania  Convention,  had  been  mem 
bers  of  the  Antifederal  societies  and  committees  of  cor 
respondence,  had  labored  hard  to  defeat  the  Constitu 
tion,  and,  even  after  nine  States  had  ratified,  had  sat  in 
the  famous  Harrisburg  Convention  which  petitioned  the 
Legislature  to  ask  to  have  the  Constitution  sent  for 
amendment  to  a  new  convention  of  the  States.  These 
men,  the  Federalists  declared,  were  planning  to  make 
Patrick  Henry  President,  and  though  some  were  given 
a  great  vote,  not  one  secured  election. 

In  Maryland,  where  the  choice  was  also  made  by  the 
people,  the  excitement  became  intense,  for  the  lines 
which  parted  the  Federalists  and  Antifederalists  were 
precisely  those  which  a  few  years  before  parted  the 
non-imposters  and  the  paper-money  men  from  the  men 
who  wished  for  honest  money  and  the  prompt  payment 
of  the  Continental  debt.  All  over  the  State  meetings 
were  held,  addresses  were  issued,  and  each  party  ac 
cused  of  fraud.  But,  when  the  votes  were  counted,  the 
Federalists  were  found  to  have  carried  the  day.  Yir- 
ginia  likewise  left  the  choice  with  the  people,  and  in 
that  State  some  fights  took  place  and  some  heads  were 
broken.  But  these  were  of  common  occurrence,  often 
happened  when  members  of  the  House  of  Burgesses 
were  elected,  and  were  thought  nothing  of.  In  Con 
necticut,  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  South  Carolina,  and 
Georgia  the  electors  were  chosen  by  the  Legislatures 
of  the  States.  In  Ehode  Island  and  North  Carolina  no 


1(30  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

elections  were  held  ;  they  had  not  accepted  the  Consti 
tution,  and  were  not  members  of  the  new  Union. 

Of  the  sixty-nine  electors  thus  appointed,  not  six 
were  formally  pledged  to  the  support  of  any  man.  In 
Baltimore  and  Philadelphia,  where  the  contest  was  close, 
a  few  had  been  charged  with  Antifederalist  leanings, 
and  had  issued  cards  declaring  that  if  elected  they  would 
cast  their  votes  for  Washington  and  Adams.  But  the 
others  gave  no  pledges,  and  none  were  wanted.  Differ 
as  men  might  touching  the  merits  of  the  Constitution, 
there  was  no  difference  of  opinion  touching  the  man 
who  should  fill  the  highest  office  under  the  Constitu 
tion,  and  voters  and  electors  alike  united  on  General 
Washington. 

There  all  unanimity  ceased,  for  no  other  name  was 
a  charmed  name  with  Americans.  That  of  Franklin 
stood  high,  but  Franklin  had  passed  his  eightieth  year, 
was  sorely  afflicted  with  an  incurable  disease,  and  was 
justly  thought  too  old  and  feeble  for  the  second  place. 
The  services  and  the  claims  of  Samuel  Adams  were 
almost  as  great,  but  he  had  begun  by  opposing  the 
Constitution,  had  ended  by  accepting  it  with  much 
reluctance,  and  was  accordingly  passed  over  by  the 
Federalists,  who  brought  forward  the  name  of  John 
Adams  in  his  stead. 

John  Adams  was  a  native  of  ~New  England,  and 
this  was  given  out  by  some  as  a  good  and  sufficient 
reason  why  Southern  Federalists  should  oppose  him. 
He  had  lived  long  abroad,  and  was  declared  by  others 
to  have  come  home  less  of  a  Republican  than  he  went 
out.  He  had,  his  enemies  admitted,  written  a  book 
called  "  A  Defence  of  the  Constitutions  of  Government 
of  the  United  States  of  America."  But  it  ought,  they 


WASHINGTON'S  INAUGURATION.  161 

said,  to  be  called  an  insidious  attack.  Could  any  man 
read  such  stuff  as  this — "  The  rich,  the  well-born,  and 
the  able  will  acquire  an  influence  among  the  people 
that  will  soon  be  too  much  for  simple  honesty  and  plain 
sense  in  a  House  of  Representatives  " — and  call  it  Re 
publican  ?  Was  the  author  of  such  nonsense  a  fit  man 
to  rule  over  a  free  people  ?  A  better  reason  for  oppos 
ing  Adams  came  from  the  Antif ederalists  of  'New  York. 
Eleven  States,  these  men  argued,  have  ratified  the  Con 
stitution,  yet  six  sent  with  their  ratifications  long  lists 
of  proposed  amendments.  These  amendments  are  not 
trivial ;  they  are  very  serious.  The  new  Government 
will  have  to  consider  them.  It  is  highly  important, 
therefore,  to  have  in  the  new  Government  some  man 
who  will  do  his  best  to  further  them.  Such  a  man  is 
Governor  George  Clinton.  His  name  is  not  written  at 
the  foot  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence ;  he  has 
never  sat  in  Congress,  nor  gone  on  a  mission  to  foreign 
parts  to  caper  before  dukes  and  princes,  and  dance 
attendance  in  the  antechambers  of  kings ;  he  has  no 
theory  about  the  place  to  be  given  to  the  rich  and  the 
"  well-born  "  in  the  State ;  but  he  is  a  stanch  Repub 
lican,  a  friend  to  the  liberty  of  the  press,  an  enemy  of 
standing  armies,  a  hater  of  consolidated  governments 
in  every  form,  a  man  in  whose  hands  the  interests  of 
the  six  States  proposing  amendments  will  be  safe.  So 
eager  were  his  friends  to  see  him  Yice-President  that 
they  formed  clubs,  took  the  name  of  Federal -Republi 
can,  and,  while  electors  were  yet  to  be  chosen,  can 
vassed,  corresponded,  and  sent  out  a  circular  letter  in 
his  behalf.  For  a  time  his  chances  of  success  were 
good ;  but  when  it  was  known  that  Clinton  could  not 
carry  his  own  State,  that  New  York  had  chosen  no 


162 


WITH  THE  FATHERS. 


electors,  all  hope  of  success  was  given  up.  And  well  it 
might  be,  for  when  the  electors  met  on  the  first  Wed 
nesday  in  February,  Clinton  got  but  three  votes,  and 
these  three  were  cast  by  Yirginia.  Washington,  on 
that  day,  was  given  sixty-nine ;  John  Adams  received 
thirty -four.  Thirty -five  more  votes  were  thrown  away 
on  ten  men,  no  one  of  whom  received  more  than  nine. 


STATES. 

Washington. 

Adams. 

Huntington. 

| 

1 

Clinton. 

R.  H.  Harrison. 

Rutledge. 

John  Milton. 

James  Armstrong. 

Telfair. 

Benjamin  Lincoln. 

New  Hampshire  .... 
Massachusetts  .  . 

5 

10 

5 

10 

Connecticut  

7 

5 

2 

New  Jersey 

6 

1 

5 

Pennsylvania  . 

10 

8 

?, 

Delaware  

8 

fi 

6 

Virginia 

10- 

5 

1 

1 

8 

South  Carolina  
Georgia               •     . 

K 

1 

6 

9, 

1 

1 

1 

Total 

69 

?A 

9, 

4 

9 

8 

0 

6 

9, 

1 

1 

1 

That  a  vote  or  two  should  be  thrown  away  was 
necessary.  As  the  Constitution  then  read,  it  was  the 
duty  of  each  elector  to  write  down  on  his  ballot  the 
names  of  two  men,  without  indicating  which  he  wished 
should  be  President.  The  man  receiving  the  greatest 
number  of  electoral  votes  was  to  be  President,  and  the 
man  receiving  the  next  highest,  Yice-President.  Had 
every  elector  who  voted  for  Washington  also  voted  for 
Adams,  neither  would  have  been  elected,  and  the  choice 
of  a  President  would  have  devolved  on  the  House  of 
Representatives.  So  great  a  scattering,  however,  was 


WASHINGTON'S  INAUGURATION.  163 

unnecessary,  and  is  to  be  ascribed  to  a  fear  that  Wash 
ington  would  not  be  given  the  vote  of  every  elector — a 
fear  Alexander  Hamilton  did  all  he  could  to  spread. 

The  choice  of  representatives  was  left  with  the 
people.  By  the  Constitution,  any  man  who  could  vote 
for  a  member  of  the  lower  branch  of  his  State  Legisla 
ture  could  vote  for  a  member  of  Congress.  But  not 
every  man  could  on  election  day  write  a  ballot  and 
bring  it  to  the  polls,  or  stand  in  the  crowd  that  shouted 
"  Aye ! "  when  the  name  of  his  candidate  was  called. 
Suffrage  was  far  from  universal.  The  elective  fran 
chise  belonged  to  the  rich  and  well-to-do,  not  to  the 
poor.  The  voter  must  own  land  or  property,  rent  a 
house,  or  pay  taxes  of  some  sort.  Here  the  qualifica 
tion  was  fifty  acres  of  land,  or  personal  property  to  the 
value  of  thirty  pounds  ;  there  it  was  a  white  skin  and 
property  to  the  value  of  ten  pounds.  In  one  State  it 
was  a  poll-tax  ;  in  another,  a  property  tax ;  in  another, 
the  voter  must  be  a  quiet  and  peaceable  man  with  a 
freehold  worth  forty  shillings,  or  personal  estate  worth 
forty  pounds.  To  vote  in  South  Carolina  a  free  white 
man  must  believe  in  the  being  of  a  God,  in  a  future 
state  of  reward  and  punishment,  and  have  a  freehold  of 
fifty  acres  of  land ;  to  vote  in  New  York,  he  must  be 
seized  of  a  freehold  worth  twenty  pounds  York  money, 
or  pay  a  house-rent  of  forty  shillings  a  year,  have  his 
name  on  the  list  of  taxpayers,  and  in  his  pocket  a  tax 
receipt. 

The  effect  of  restrictions  such  as  these  was  to  de 
prive  great  numbers  of  deserving  men  of  the  right  to 
vote.  Young  men  just  starting  in  life,  sons  of  farmers 
whose  lands  and  goods  had  not  been  divided,  wander 
ing  teachers  of  schools,  doctors  and  lawyers  beginning 


1G4  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

the  practice  of  their  profession,  might  count  themselves 
fortunate  if  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight  they  could  com 
ply  with  the  conditions  imposed  by  the  constitutions  of 
many  of  the  States.  Of  the  mass  of  unskilled  laborers 
— the  men  who  dug  ditches,  carried  loads,  or  in 
harvest-time  helped  the  farmer  gather  in  his  hay  and 
grain — it  is  safe  to  say  that  very  few,  if  any,  ever  in  the 
course  of  their  lives  cast  a  vote,  for  they  were  thought 
well  paid  if  given  food,  lodging,  and  sixty  dollars  a 
year. 

While  such  as  could  vote  were  choosing  their  rep 
resentatives,  fit  meeting-places  for  the  senators  and 
representatives  were  being  made  ready  by  some  public- 
spirited  citizens  of  New  York.  Driven  from  Philadel 
phia  in  1783  by  the  threats  of  a  band  of  mutinous  sol 
diers,  the  Congress  of  the  Confederation  at  last  found  a 
refuge  at  New  York,  and  had  been  given  quarters  in 
the  City  Hall,  which  then  stood  on  the  corner  of  Nas 
sau  and  WalL  The  Congress  room  was  on  the  second 
story  at  the  east  end,  and  would  not  even  now  be 
thought  mean.  Travellers  who  came  to  the  city  and, 
prompted  by  curiosity,  visited  the  room  where  the 
Congress  sat,  never  failed  to  go  away  much  impressed 
by  the  pictures,  the  furniture,  the  hangings,  it  con 
tained.  The  railed-in  platform  on  which  the  President 
sat ;  the  great  chair  of  state ;  the  crimson  silk  canopy 
with  its  curtains  of  heavy  damask ;  the  mahogany  ta 
bles  ;  the  chairs,  rich  with  carving  and  gorgeous  with 
seats  of  crimson  morocco  ;  the  great  curtains  of  damask 
that  hung  at  the  windows ;  the  long  line  of  portraits  of 
officers  who  died  in  the  war ;  the  huge  canvases  from 
which,  when  the  curtains  were  pulled  aside,  the  King 
and  Queen  of  France  seemed  ready  to  step  to  the  floor 


WASHINGTON'S  INAUGURATION.  165 

beneath — drew  from  every  visitor  exclamations  of  ad 
miration  and  surprise.  Yet  neither  this  room  nor  the 
building  were  thought  fine  enough  for  the  use  of  the 
new  Congress,  and  money  to  put  the  building  in  better 
form  was  soon  being  asked  for  at  every  coffee-house  in 
the  city.  Thirty-two  thousand  five  hundred  dollars 
was  quickly  collected,  and  the  work  of  alteration  was 
given  to  Major  L'Enfant,  who  deserves  to  be  remem 
bered  as  the  man  to  whom  is  due  all  that  is  good  and 
nothing  that  is  bad  in  the  plan  of  the  city  of  Washing 
ton. 

No  time  was  lost ;  yet  the  masons  and  carpenters 
were  still  busy  when  the  fourth  of  March  arrived. 
This  mattered  little,  however,  for  no  President  was  to 
be  inaugurated,  no  Senate,  no  House  was  ready  to  take 
possession ;  nothing  was  to  be  done  to  mark  in  any  way 
the  fact  that  the  weak  and  crumbling  Confederation 
had  given  place  to  a  strong  and  vigorous  Government. 
Toward  sunset  on  the  evening  of  the  third  a  salute  was 
fired  at  the  Battery  as  a  long  farewell  to  the  old  Con 
federation.  At  daylight  on  the  morning  of  the  fourth, 
at  noon,  and  at  six  in  the  evening,  salutes  were  again 
fired  and  all  the  church  bells  rung  out  a  welcome  to  the 
Constitution.  But  no  celebration  was  attempted,  for 
the  new  Congress  seemed  to  have  inherited  all  the 
sloth,  all  the  indifference,  all  the  torpor  of  the  old. 
The  Senate  was  to  consist  of  twenty-two  members  and 
the  House  of  fifty-nine.  Yet  while  the  bells  were 
ringing  and  the  cannon  firing  there  were  but  eight 
senators  and  thirteen  representatives  in  the  city.  This 
seemed  quite  as  it  should  be.  The  terrible  condition 
of  the  roads  in  February,  the  long  distances  many 
would  have  to  ride,  the  late  day  on  which  the  elections 


166  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

were  held,  might,  it  was  urged,  account  for  the  absence 
of  many.  When,  however,  a  week  went  by  and  not 
one  more  senator  came,  the  patience  of  the  eight  gave 
way,  and  they  issued  a  strong  appeal  to  the  absentees 
to  hurry.*  But  another  week  passed,  and  another  ad 
dress  was  issued,  before  the  ninth  senator  crossed  the 
Hudson  to  take  his  seat.  The  tenth  came  two  days 
later,  the  eleventh  a  week  later,  and  the  twelfth,  who 
made  a  quorum,  reached  the  city  on  the  fifth  of  April. 

The  House  of  Representatives  meanwhile  had  been 
more  fortunate — had  secured  a  quorum,  had  chosen  a 
Speaker,  and  was  hard  at  work  on  a  tariff  act,  when  a 
messenger  from  the  Senate  knocked  at  the  door  and 
informed  the  Speaker  that  the  Senate  was  ready  to 
count  the  electoral  vote. 

This  duty  done,  the  Houses  parted,  and  Charles 
Thomson  was  sent  to  carry  a  certificate  of  election  to 
"Washington,  while  Sylvanus  Bourne  went  on  a  like 
errand  to  John  Adams  at  Braintree.  The  journey  of 
these  two  men  from  their  homes  to  the  seat  of  Congress 

*  The  following  is  a  copy  of  such  an  appeal,  sent  to  the  Hon. 
George  Read : 

NEW  YORK,  March  11,  1789. 
The  Honorable  George  Read,  Esqr. : 

SIR  :  Agreeably  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  eight 
Members  of  the  Senate  and  eighteen  of  the  house  of  Representatives 
have  attended  here  since  the  4th  of  March.  It  being  of  the  utmost 
importance  that  a  Quorum  sufficient  to  proceed  to  business  be  as 
sembled  as  soon  as  possible,  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  Gentlemen  of 
both  houses,  that  information  of  their  situation  be  immediately 
communicated  to  the  absent  Members. 

We  apprehend  that  no  Arguments  are  necessary  to  evince  to  you 
the  indispensible  necessity  of  putting  the  Government  into  immedi 
ate  operation,  and  therefore  request  that  you  will  be  so  obliging  as 
to  attend  as  soon  as  possible. 


WASHINGTON'S  INAUGURATION. 

was  one  long  ovation.  Adams  set  out  first,  and  was 
accompanied  from  town  to  town  along  the  route  by 
troops  of  soldiers  and  long  lines  of  men  on  horseback, 
was  presented  with  addresses,  was  met  at  Kingsbridge 
by  members  of  Congress  and  the  chief  citizens  of  New 
York,  and  escorted  with  every  manifestation  of  respect 
to  the  house  of  John  Jay.  His  inauguration  took  place 
on  April  twenty-second,  and  was  attended  by  one  inci 
dent,  unnoticed  at  the  time,  but  serious  in  its  conse 
quences.  In  the  crowd  that  stood  about  the  doors  of 
Federal  Hall  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  Mr.  Adams  as  he 
went  in  were  John  Randolph,  of  Roanoke,  and  his 
elder  brother  Richard.  The  lads  were  students  at  Co 
lumbia  College,  and,  pressing  too  close  to  the  Yice- 
President's  carriage,  Richard,  in  the  language  of  his 
brother,  "was  spurned  by  the  coachman."  In  a 
healthy-minded  lad  the  wrath  which  the  "spurning" 
called  forth  would  surely  have  gone  down  with  the 
sun.  But  John  Randolph  was  far  from  healthy-minded. 
To  him  the  act  was  past  all  forgiveness,  and  to  the  last 
day  of  his  life  he  hated,  with  a  fierce,  irrational  hatred, 
not  the  coachman,  but  John  Adams  himself. 

Washington  set  out  on  the  sixteenth  of  April.  But 
he  had  not  gone  a  mile  from  his  door  when  a  crowd  of 
friends  and  neighbors  on  horseback  surrounded  his  car- 

o 

riage  and  rode  with  him  to  Alexandria.  There  the 
Mayor  addressed  him,  in  the  fulsome  manner  of  the 
time,  as  the  first  and  best  of  citizens,  as  the  model  of 
youth,  as  the  ornament  of  old  age,  and  went  with  him 
to  the  banks  of  the  Potomac,  where  the  men  of  George 
town  were  waiting.  With  them  he  went  on  till  the 
men  of  Baltimore  met  him,  and  led  him  through  lines 
of  shouting  people  to  the  best  inn  their  city  could  boast. 
12 


168  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

That  night  a  public  reception  and  a  supper  were  given 
in  his  honor,  and  at  sunrise  the  next  morning  he  was 
on  his  way  toward  Philadelphia. 

In  size,  in  wealth,  in  population,  Philadelphia  then 
stood  first  among  the  cities  of  the  country,  and  her  citi 
zens  determined  to  receive  their  illustrious  President  in 
a  manner  worthy  of  her  greatness  and  of  his  fame. 
The  place  selected  was  Gray's  Ferry,  where  the  road 
from  Baltimore  crossed  the  lower  Schuylkill — a  place 
well  known  and  often  described  by  travellers.  On  the 
high  ridge  that  bordered  the  eastern  bank  was  Gray's 
Inn  and  gardens,  renowned  for  the  greenhouse  filled 
with  tropical  fruit,  the  maze  of  walks,  the  grottos,  the 
hermitages,  the  Chinese  bridges,  the  dells  and  groves, 
that  made  it  "  a  prodigy  of  art  and  nature."  Crossing 
the  river  was  the  floating  bridge,  made  gay  for  the  oc 
casion  with  flags  and  bunting  and  festoons  of  cedar  and 
laurel -leaves.  Along  the  north  rail  were  eleven  flags, 
typical  of  the  eleven  States  of  the  new  Union.  On  the 
south  rail  were  two  flags:  one  to  represent  the  new 
era ;  the  other  the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  Across  the 
bridge  at  either  end  was  a  triumphal  arch,  from  one  of 
which  a  laurel  crown  hung  by  a  string  which  passed  to 
the  hands  of  a  boy  who,  dressed  in  white  and  decked 
with  laurel,  stood  beneath  a  pine-tree  hard  by.  On 
every  side  were  banners  adorned  with  emblems  and  in 
scribed  with  mottoes.  One  bore  the  words,  "  May  com 
merce  flourish !  "  On  another  was  a  sun,  and  under  it, 
"  Behold  the  rising  empire."  A  third  was  the  rattle 
snake  flag,  with  the  threatening  words,  "  Don't  tread  on 
m0."  On  the  hill  overlooking  the  bridge  and  the  river 
was  a  signal  to  give  the  people  warning  of  the  Pres 
ident's  approach. 


WASHINGTON'S  INAUGURATION.  169 

Toward  noon  on  the  twentieth  of  April  the  signal 
was  suddenly  dropped,  and  soon  after  Washington,  with 
Governor  Mifflin  and  a  host  of  gentlemen  who  had  gone 
out  to  meet  him  at  the  boundary  line  of  Delaware,  was 
seen  riding  slowly  down  the  hill  toward  the  river.  As 
he  passed  under  the  first  triumphal  archway  the  crown 
of  laurel  was  dropped  on  his  brow,  a  salute  was  fired 
from  the  cannon  on  the  opposite  shore,  and  the  people, 
shouting  "Long  live  the  President!"  went  over  the 
bridge  with  him  to  the  eastern  bank,  where  the  troops 
were  waiting  to  conduct  him  on  to  Philadelphia.  The 
whole  city  came  out  to  meet  him,  and  as  he  passed 
through  dense  lines  of  cheering  men  the  bells  of  every 
church  rang  out  a  merry  peal,  and  every  face,  says  one 
who  saw  them,  seemed  to  say,  "  Long,  long,  long  live 
George  Washington ! " 

That  night  he  slept  at  Philadelphia,  was  addressed 
by  the  Executive  Council  of  State,  by  the  Mayor  and 
Aldermen,  by  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  the 
faculty  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the 
members  of  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  and  early  the 
next  morning  set  out  with  a  troop  of  horse  for  Trenton. 
On  the  bridge  which  spanned  the  Assanpink  Creek, 
over  which,  twelve  years  before,  the  Hessians  fled  in 
confusion,  he  passed  under  a  great  dome  supported  by 
thirteen  columns,  and  adorned  with  a  huge  sunflower, 
inscribed,  "  To  thee  alone,"  and  was  greeted  by  a  little 
band  of  musicians  led  by  a  German  named  Pfyles..  The 
music  which  they  played  had  been  composed  for  the 
occasion  by  Pfyles,  was  dedicated  to  Washington  under 
the  name  of  "  The  President's  March,"  and  became  so 
popular  that  in  the  stirring  times  of  1Y98,  when  Hopkin- 
son  wrote  the  words  of  "  Hail  Columbia,"  he  set  them 


170  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

to  the  music  of  "The  President's  March"  because 
everybody  knew  it.  The  women  of  Trenton  had  or 
dered  the  dome  put  up,  and  just  beyond  the  bridge 
were  waiting  with  their  daughters,  who,  as  he  passed 
under  the  dome,  began  singing : 

Welcome,  mighty  chief,  once  more 
Welcome  to  this  grateful  shore : 
Now  no  mercenary  foe 
Aims  again  the  fatal  blow — 
Aims  at  thee  the  fatal  blow. 

Virgins  fair  and  matrons  grave, 
Those  thy  conquering  arms  did  save, 
Build  for  thee  triumphal  bowers. 
Strew  ye  fair  his  way  with  flowers- 
Strew  your  Hero's  way  with  flowers. 

As  the  last  lines  were  sung  the  bevy  of  little  girls 
came  forward,  strewing  the  road  with  flowers  as  they 
sang.  "Washington  was  greatly  moved,  thanked  the 
children  on  the  spot,  and  before  he  rode  out  of  town 
the  next  morning  wrote  a  few  words  to  their  mothers. 

From  Trenton  he  passed  across  New  Jersey,  escorted 
from  county  to  county  by  the  State  militia,  to  Eliza- 
bethtown,  where  a  committee,  with  a  barge  provided 
by  Congress,  was  ready  to  carry  him  to  New  York. 
Bowed  by  thirteen  of  the  harbor  pilots,  the  barge  sped 
on  through  the  Kill  van  Kull  toward  New  York  Bay, 
followed  by  a  train  of  boats  bearing  the  few  officers  of 
the  old  Confederation  necessity  still  kept  in  their  places. 
In  one  was  the  Board  of  Treasury ;  in  another,  the  Sec 
retary  of  War  ;  the  Secretary  of  Foreign  Affairs  was  in 
a  third. 

About  the  entrance  to  the  Kill  was  gathered  a  navy 
of  river  craft  gay  with  flags  and  brightly  dressed  women, 


WASHINGTON'S  INAUGURATION. 

and  noisy  with  cheering  men.  As  the  barges  of  the 
President  and  his  party  passed  by,  snows  and  shallops, 
trackscouts  and  row-boats,  with  one  accord  took  place 
in  line,  and  the  procession,  stretching  out  for  more  than 
a  mile,  swept  on  toward  New  York,  past  the  Spanish 
war  ship  Galveston,  which  saluted  with  thirteen  guns  ; 
past  the  ship  North  Carolina,  which  answered  the  Span 
iard's  salute,  while  over  the  water  to  those  on  shore 
came  the  blare  of  conchs  and  trumpets,  the  sound  of 
song  and  music,  and  the  stirring  notes  of  "  Stony 
Point."  As  the  little  fleet  came  round  the  head  of 
Governor's  Island  the  shouts  were  taken  up  by  the 
crowd  that  lined  the  shore  or  stood  in  a  dense  mass 
about  the  spot  which,  bright  with  flags  and  bunting, 
marked  the  landing-place  at  Murray's  Wharf.  There 
Washington  was  met  by  Governor  Clinton  and  the 
members  of  Congress,  and  escorted  by  all  the  troops  in 
the  city  to  the  house  made  ready  for  his  use.  That 
night  the  revelry  was  louder  than  ever,  for  scarcely  a 
tavern  but  had  a  song  or  an  ode  written  for  the  occa 
sion  by  some  frequenter  who  passed  for  a  poet.  Of 
the  few  that  have  come  down  to  us,  one  was  sung  to 
the  air  of  "  God  save  the  King  "  : 

.  Hail,  thou  auspicious  day ! 
For  let  America 

Thy  praise  resound. 
Joy  to  our  native  land ! 
Let  ev'ry  heart  expand, 
For  Washington's  at  hand, 

With  glory  crowned. 

Thrice  beloved  Columbia,  haill 
Behold  before  the  gale 
Your  chief  advance. 


172  WITH   THE  FATHERS. 

The  matchless  Hero's  nigh ; 
Applaud  him  to  the  sky, 
Who  gave  you  liberty, 

With  gen'rous  France. 

Thrice  welcome  to  this  shore, 
Our  leader  now  no  more, 

But  ruler  thou. 
O  truly  good  and  great, 
Long  live  to  glad  our  state, 
Where  countless  honors  wait 

To  deck  thy  brow ! 

The  friends  to  the  new  Government  had  hoped  for 
a  speedy  inauguration.  But  Federal  Hall  was  still  un 
finished,  and  the  ceremony  of  taking  the  oath  was  put 
off  one  week.  This  week  was  spent  by  the  President 
in  receiving  and  returning  the  calls  of  congressmen, 
and  in  riding  about  the  streets  and  noting  the  great 
change  which  had  taken  place  since  he  saw  the  city  last. 
Five  years  before,  some  of  the  same  men  who  so  lately 
welcomed  him  as  President  had  gone  out  to  the  Bull's 
Head  Tavern  to  welcome  him  as  General,  and  after 
a  few  days  had  escorted  him  to  the  same  wharf  at 
which  he  so  recently  landed,  and  had  there,  with 
hearts  full  of  love  and  gratitude,  waved  farewell  as 
he  was  rowed  over  the  bay  on  his  journey  to  Congress 
at  Annapolis.  Then  the  city  was  a  scene  of  desolation. 
Her  commerce  was  gone ;  her  docks  were  empty ;  two 
terrible  fires  had  burned  down  nearly  a  thousand  of  her 
houses.  During  the  seven  years  of  British  occupation 
many  of  her  streets  and  buildings  had  been  suffered  to 
fall  into  decay,  many  of  her  churches  had  been  dese 
crated  and  turned  into  riding-schools  and  stables,  and 
thousands  of  her  citizens  had  been  living  in  exile  up  the 


WASHINGTON'S  INAUGURATION. 

Hudson  or  in  New  Jersey.  But  no  sooner  were  the 
British  driven  out  than  her  citizens  returned,  and  with 
an  energy  that  seemed  marvellous  began  to  repair  and 
more  than  repair  the  damage  done  by  fire  and  war.  The 
streets  were  better  paved  and  better  lighted ;  the  houses 
every  year  became  more  grand  and  pretentious,  and  the 
limits  of  the  city  extended  by  steady  encroachments  on 
the  rivers  and  bay.  Public  opinion  had  already  doomed 
Fort  George,  which  stood  just  below  the  Bowling 
Green,  and  in  a  few  months  workmen  were  levelling 
the  ramparts  to  make  way  for  a  house  for  the  Presi 
dent.  One  traveller  described  the  city  as  a  miniature 
London.  Another  puts  down  in  his  journal  some  re 
marks  on  the  markets,  where  fish  were  sold  both  dead 
and  alive ;  on  the  fine  houses  he  saw  on  Dock  Street 
and  Queen  Street  and  Hanover  Square ;  on  the  good 
ness  of  the  footways,  so  wide  that  three  persons  could 
walk  abreast ;  on  the  pavements,  over  which  no  dray 
drawn  by  more  than  one  horse  was  ever  allowed  to 
pass;  and  on  the  sights  which  he  saw  on  Broadway. 
The  buildings  along  it  were  new  and  poor,  but  the 
street  was  long,  wide,  and  unpaved,  and  therefore  a 
favorite  drive.  There  every  morning  and  afternoon 
"  the  gentry "  rode  in  their  coaches  and  phaetons,  and 
"  the  common  people  "  in  open  chairs.  It  was  fashion 
able  to  be  seen,  toward  sunset,  walking  on  the  mall  that 
surrounded  the  fort,  or  to  go  over  to  Brooklyn  and 
stroll  about  the  earthworks  while  an  oyster  supper  was 
being  made  ready  at  the  inn. 

In  these  amusements  the  President-elect  took  no 
part,  but  waited  with  solemn  gravity  for  the  inaugura 
tion.  At  nine  on  the  morning  of  that  day  the  people 
repaired  by  thousands  to  the  churches  to  offer  up 


174  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

i 

prayers  for  his  Divine  guidance.      At  ten  Congress 
met. 

In  the  Senate  all  was  confusion,  for,  the  moment 
the  business  of  the  day  began,  Mr.  Adams  had  pro 
pounded  a  question  of  etiquette.  The  House,  he  said, 
would  soon  attend  them,  and  the  President  would 
surely  deliver  a  speech.  What  should  be  done  ?  How 
would  the  Senate  behave  ?  Would  it  stand  or  sit  while 
the  President  spoke  ?  Members  who  had  been  in  Lon 
don  and  had  seen  a  Parliament  opened  were  for  follow 
ing  the  custom  of  England,  which  was,  Mr.  Lee  de 
clared,  for  the  Commons  to  stand.  Mr.  Izard  declared 
the  Commons  stood  because  there  were  not  benches 
enough  in  the  room  for  them  to  sit.  A  third  was  in 
the  midst  of  a  strong  protest  against  aping  the  follies  of 
royal  governments,  when  Mr.  Adams  announced  that 
the  clerk  of  the  House  was  at  the  door.  A  new  ques 
tion  of  etiquette  at  once  arose,  for  the  Yice-President 
was  at  a  loss  how  to  receive  him.  The  sentiment  of  the 
admirers  of  England  was  that  the  clerk  should  never  be 
admitted  within  the  bar,  but  that  the  sergeant-at-arms, 
with  the  mace  upon  his  shoulder,  should  march  solemnly 
down  to  the  door  and  receive  the  message.  This,  un 
happily,  could  not  be  done,  for  the  Senate  had  neither 
a  mace  nor  a  sergeant.  What  should  be  done  was  still 
unsettled  when  the  Speaker,  with  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  at  his  heels,  came  hurrying  into  the  Cham 
ber.  All  business  was  instantly  stopped,  and  the  three 
senators,  who  ought  to  have  attended  the  President 
long  before,  set  off  for  his  house.  As  Washington 
could  not  leave  till  they  arrived,  the  procession,  which 
had  been  forming  since  sunrise,  was  greatly  delayed, 
and  for  an  hour  and  ten  minutes  the  senators  and  rep- 


WASHINGTON'S  INAUGURATION.  175 

resentatives  chafed  and  scolded.  At  last  the  shouting 
in  the  streets  made  known  that  the  President  was  come. 
A  few  minutes  later  he  entered  the  room,  and  both 
Houses  were  formally  presented.  This  ceremony  over, 
Mr.  Adams  informed  him  that  it  was  time  to  take  the 
oath  of  office.  He  rose  and,  followed  by  the  members 
of  Congress,  went  out  on  the  balcony  of  Federal  Hall. 
Before  him  were  the  windows,  the  house-tops,  the 
streets,  crowded  with  citizens  of  every  rank,  brought 
thither  from  every  kind  of  occupation  by  the  novelty 
of  the  scene.  Behind  him  were  gathered  many  of  the 
ablest  and  the  most  illustrious  citizens  the  country  had 
then  produced.  Among  the  senators  stood  John  Lang- 
don,  of  New  Hampshire,  once  President  of  his  State,  and 
long  a  delegate  to  the  Continental  Congress;  Oliver 
Ellsworth,  soon  to  become  a  Chief -Justice  of  the  Su 
preme  Court ;  William  Paterson,  ten  times  Attorney- 
General  of  New  Jersey ;  Richard  Henry  Lee  and  Rich 
ard  Bassett  and  George  Read,  men  whose  names  appear 
alike  at  the  foot  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
and  at  the  foot  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States ; 
William  Johnson,  a  scholar  and  a  judge,  and  one  of  the 
few  Americans  whose  learning  had  obtained  recogni 
tion  abroad ;  while  conspicuous  even  in  that  goodly 
company  was  the  noble  brow  and  thoughtful  face  of 
Robert  Morris,  the  financier  of  the  Revolution. 

The  representatives  as  a  body  were  men  of  lesser 
note.  Yet  among  those  who  that  morning  stood  about 
the  President  were  a  few  whose  names  are  as  illustrious 
as  any  on  the  roll  of  the  Senate :  there  were  James 
Madison,  to  whom,  with  James  Wilson,  is  to  be  ascribed 
the  chief  part  in  framing  and  defending  the  Constitu 
tion;  and  Fisher  Ames,  the  finest  orator  the  House 


176  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

ever  heard  till  it  listened  to  Henry  Clay ;  and  Elbridge 
Gerry,  the  Antifederalist,  who  pronounced  the  Consti 
tution  dangerous  and  bad,  who  would  not  sign  it  in 
Convention,  but  who  lived  to  see  his  worst  fears  dissi 
pated,  and  died  a  Yice-President  of  the  United  States ; 
and  Eoger  Sherman  and  George  Clymer,  who  with 
Gerry  dated  their  public  service  to  a  time  before  the 
Revolution,  and  who  in  defence  of  that  cause  had 
staked  "their  lives,  their  fortunes,  and  their  sacred 
honor,"  and  signed  the  first  grand  charter  of  our  liber 
ties. 

When  the  President,  surrounded  by  men  such  as 
these,  had  taken  his  place  before  the  railing  of  the  bal 
cony,  and  the  shouts  of  welcome  had  died  away,  a  scene 
occurred  which  has  been  well  described  by  one  who  saw 
it.  "  I  was  on  the  roof,"  wrote  Miss  Eliza  Quincy,  "  of 
the  first  house  in  Broad  Street,  which  belonged  to  Cap 
tain  Prince,  the  father  of  one  of  my  school  companions, 
and  so  near  Washington  that  I  could  almost  hear  him 
speak.  The  windows  and  the  roofs  of  the  houses  were 
crowded,  and  in  the  streets  the  throng  was  so  dense 
that  it  seemed  as  if  one  might  literally  walk  on  the 
heads  of  the  people.  The  balcony  of  the  hall  was  in 
full  view  of  this  assembled  multitude.  In  the  centre  of 
it  was  placed  a  table  with  a  rich  covering  of  red  velvet, 
and  upon  this,  on  a  crimson  velvet  cushion,  lay  a  large 
and  elegant  Bible.  This  was  all  the  paraphernalia  for 
the  august  scene.  All  eyes  were  fixed  upon  the  bal 
cony,  where  at  the  appointed  hour  Washington  entered, 
accompanied  by  the  Chancellor  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  who  was  to  administer  the  oath ;  by  John  Adams, 
Yice-President ;  Governor  Clinton,  and  many  other 
distinguished  men.  By  the  great  body  of  the  people 


WASHINGTON'S  INAUGURATION.  177 

he  had  probably  never  been  seen  except  as  a  military 
hero.  The  first  in  war  was  now  to  be  the  first  in  peace. 
His  entrance  on  the  balcony  was  announced  by  univer 
sal  shouts  of  joy  and  welcome.  His  appearance  was 
most  solemn  and  dignified.  Advancing  to  the  front  of 
the  balcony,  he  laid  his  hand  on  his  heart,  bowed  several 
times,  and  then  retired  to  an  arm-chair  near  the  table. 
The  populace  appeared  to  understand  that  the  scene 
had  overcome  him,  and  were  at  once  hushed  in  pro 
found  silence.  After  a  few  moments  Washington  arose 
and  came  forward.  Chancellor  Livingston  read  the  oath, 
according  to  the  form  prescribed  by  the  Constitution, 
and  Washington  repeated  it,  resting  his  hand  upon  the 
table.  Mr.  Otis,  the  Secretary  of  the  Senate,  then  took 
the  Bible  and  raised  it  to  the  lips  of  Washington,  who 
stooped  and  kissed  the  book.  At  this  moment  a  signal 
was  given  by  raising  a  flag  upon  the  cupola  of  the  hall 
for  a  general  discharge  of  the  artillery  of  the  battery. 
All  the  bells  in  the  city  rang  out  a  peal  of  joy,  and  the 
assembled  multitude  sent  forth  a  universal  shout.  The 
President  again  bowed  to  the  people,  and  then  retired 
from  a  scene  such  as  the  proudest  monarch  never  en 
joyed." 

Livingston  was  then  Chancellor  of  the  State  of  ~New 
York,  and  when  the  last  words  of  the  oath  had  been  ut 
tered  he  turned  to  the  people  and  cried  out,  "  Long  live 
George  Washington,  President  of  the  United  States ! " 
The  cry  was  instantly  taken  up,  and  with  the  roar  of 
cannon  and  the  shouts  of  his  countrymen  ringing  in  his 
ears,  Washington  went  back  to  the  Senate  Chamber  to 
deliver  his  speech.  What  there  took  place  is  best  told  in 
the  language  of  one  who  was  present :  "  This  great  man 
was  agitated  and  embarrassed  more  than  ever  he  was 


178  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

by  the  levelled  cannon  or  pointed  musket.  He  trem 
bled,  and  several  times  could  scarce  make  out  to  read, 
though  it  must  be  supposed  he  had  often  read  it  before. 
He  made  a  flourish  with  his  right  hand,  which  left 
rather  an  ungainly  impression.  I  sincerely,  for  my 
part,  wished  all  set  ceremony  in  the  hands  of  the  danc 
ing  master,  and  that  this  first  of  men  had  read  off  his 
address  in  the  plainest  manner,  without  ever  taking  his 
eyes  from  the  paper,  for  I  felt  hurt  that  he  was  not 
first  in  everything." 

The  people  meanwhile  went  off  to  their  favorite 
taverns  to  drink  prosperity  to  Washington  and  Adams, 
and  wait  with  impatience  for  the  coming  night.  As  the 
first  stars  began  to  shine,  bonfires  were  lighted  in  many 
of  the  streets,  and  eleven  candles  put  up  in  the  win 
dows  of  many  of  the  houses.  The  front  of  Federal 
Hall  was  a  blaze  of  light.  There  was  a  fine  transpar 
ency  in  front  of  the  theatre,  and  another  near  the  Fly 
Market,  and  a  third  on  the  Bowling  Green,  near  the 
fort.  But  the  crowd  was  densest  and  stayed  the  longest 
before  the  figure-pieces  and  moving  transparencies  that 
appeared  in  the  windows  of  the  house  of  the  Minister 
of  Spain,  and  before  the  rich  display  of  lanterns  that 
hung  round  the  doors  and  windows  of  the  house  occu 
pied  by  the  Minister  of  France. 

The  country  over  which  Washington  was  thus  made 
ruler  was  not  three  and  a  half  times  as  large  as  the 
present  State  of  Texas,  and  did  not  contain  as  many 
people  by  a  million  as  are  at  present  living  within  the 
State  of  New  York.  By  the  treaty  of  peace  with 
Great  Britain  the  boundary  of  the  United  States  was 
defined  as  the  St.  Croix  River  from  its  mouth  to  its 
source ;  a  meridian  to  the  highlands  parting  the  waters 


WASHINGTON'S  INAUGURATION.  179 

that  flowed  into  the  Atlantic  from  the  waters  that  flowed 
into  the  St.  Lawrence ;  the  highlands  to  the  northwest 
branch  of  the  Connecticut  Biver;  down  the  river  to 
the  forty-fifth  degree  of  north  latitude ;  westward  along 
this  forty-fifth  parallel  to  the  middle  of  the  St.  Law 
rence  ;  up  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  lakes ;  and  up  the 
great  lakes  to  the  most  northwestern  corner  of  the  Lake 
of  the  Woods.  There  all  geographical  knowledge 
ended.  The  Mississippi  had  not  been  explored  above 
the  present  city  of  St.  Paul.  Where  its  source  was  no 
man  knew ;  but  supposing  it  to  be  somewhere  in  Brit 
ish  America,  the  northern  boundary  was  to  be  finished 
by  a  line  due  west  from  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  to  the 
Mississippi.  Thence  the  line  ran  down  the  middle  of 
the  Mississippi  to  the  thirty-first  parallel,  eastward  along 
this  parallel  to  the  Appalachicola,  down  the  Appal  achi- 
cola  to  the  Flint,  and  then  along  the  northern  boundary 
of  the  present  State  of  Florida  to  the  sea. 

Around  their  limits  lay  the  possessions  of  two  great 
powers  with  whom  our  relations  were  far  from  friendly. 
Spanish  territory  surrounded  us  on  the  south  and  west ; 
yet  there  was  no  treaty  of  any  kind  with  Spain.  The 
possessions  of  Great  Britain  bounded  us  on  the  north 
and  east ;  yet  the  only  treaty  with  England  was  that  of 
independence  made  in  1Y83,  and,  claiming  this  treaty  to 
have  been  violated  because  the  States  did  not  repeal  the 
laws  forbidding  the  recovery  of  debts  due  her  subjects, 
she  held  and  fortified  the  ports  on  Lake  Champlain,  at 
Oswegatchie,  at  Oswego,  at  Niagara,  at  Detroit,  on  the 
island  of  Michilimackinac,  in  what  is  now  Michigan, 
and  continued  to  hold  them  for  thirteen  years.  Spain 
would  make  no  treaty  unless  it  was  distinctly  agreed 
that  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  should  not  navi- 


180  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

gate  the  Mississippi  River  below  the  thirty-first  de 
gree. 

Of  the  eight  hundred  and  sixty-five  thousand  square 
miles  contained  within  the  boundaries  of  the  United 
States,  part  belonged  to  the  eleven  States  and  part  had 
been  inherited  by  the  new  Government  from  the  Conti 
nental  Congress.  Maine  was  still  a  district  of  Massa 
chusetts  ;  Y ermont  had  as  yet  no  recognition  as  a  State, 
and  was  not  a  member  of  the  Union.  Neither  was 
Rhode  Island,  nor  North  Carolina,  nor  what  is  now 
Tennessee.  Over  these  regions,  therefore,  the  laws  of 
Congress  and  the  authority  of  Washington  did  not  ex 
tend.  Pennsylvania  did  not  own  all  her  frontage  on 
Lake  Erie.  Kentucky  was  still  a  part  of  Yirginia. 
"What  is  now  Alabama  and  Mississippi  above  the  paral 
lel  of  thirty-one  degrees  was  claimed  entirely  by  Georgia, 
and  in  part  by  the  United  States.  The  wilderness  north 
of  the  Ohio  and  west  of  Pennsylvania  had,  save  some 
reservations  by  Yirginia  and  Connecticut,  been  ceded  by 
four  States  to  the  old  Congress,  and  passed  by  the  name 
of  the  Territory  of  the  United  States  northwest  of  the 
River  Ohio. 

Three  fourths  of  the  United  States  were  uninhabited. 
The  western  frontier  then  ran  close  along  the  coast  of 
Maine,  crossed  central  New  Hampshire  and  northern 
Yermont  to  Lake  Champlain,  passed  round  the  shores 
of  the  lake,  down  the  Hudson  River,  across  New  Jer 
sey,  and  the  mountains  of  Pennsylvania  to  Pittsburg, 
over  Maryland  and  the  tide-water  region  of  Yirginia, 
and  along  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains  to  the  Altamaha 
River,  and  by  it  to  the  sea. 

The  area  of  this  inhabited  strip  was,  in  round  num 
bers,  two  hundred  and  forty  thousand  square  miles,  or 


WASHINGTON'S  INAUGURATION.  181 

one  square  mile  for  each  sixteen  of  the  inhabitants. 
But  population  was  by  no  means  so  equally  distributed. 
One  fifth  were  in  Virginia ;  one  ninth  in  Pennsylvania ; 
almost  one  half  in  the  five  States  that  lay  south  of  the 
Mason  and  Dixon  line.  These  were  the  great  planta 
tion  States,  and,  populous  as  they  were,  they  did  not 
contain  but  one  city  of  the  first  class.  Savannah  and 
Charleston  and  Wilmington  and  Alexandria  and  Rich 
mond  were  smart  towns  and  nothing  more.  Not  one 
of  them  had  a  population  of  five  thousand  souls.  In 
deed,  the  inhabitants  of  the  six  great  cities  of  the  coun 
try  summed  up  to  but  one  hundred  and  thirty-one 
thousand. 

Sparse  as  the  population  was,  the  rage  for  emigra 
tion  had  already  seized  it,  and  hundreds  of  emigrants 
were  pouring  over  the  mountains  in  three  great  streams. 
One,  made  up  of  New  England  men,  went  out  through 
Massachusetts  and  were  pushing  rapidly  up  the  Mo 
hawk  Yalley;  a  second,  from  the  Middle  States,  was 
hastening  up  the  Potomac  River  to  its  head  waters  and 
spreading  over  the  rich  valleys  of  West  Virginia  be 
tween  the  Ohio  and  the  Great  Kanawha ;  a  third  had 
crossed  the  mountains  of  North  Carolina  and  was  hur 
rying  down  the  valley  of  the  Tennessee,  there  to  begin 
that  wonderful  progress  which  is  the  most  marvellous 
in  the  history  of  man. 


A  CENTURY  OF  CONSTITUTIONAL 
INTERPRETATION. 

WHEN  Major  William  Jackson,  Secretary  of  the 
Constitutional  Convention  of  1787,  set  off  to  lay  the 
signed  copy  of  the  Constitution  before  the  Continental 
Congress,  he  bore  with  him  a  letter  from  Washington 
and  a  copy  of  three  resolutions  passed  by  the  Conven 
tion.  One  of  these  resolutions  expressed  the  wish  that, 
when  nine  States  had  ratified  the  new  plan  of  govern 
ment,  the  Congress  should  name  the  day  when  govern 
ment  should  begin  under  the  Constitution.  After  much 
delay  and  much  debate  the  first  Wednesday  in  March, 
1789,  was  chosen. 

The  first  Wednesday  in  March  fell  on  the  fourth  of 
the  month,  and  on  that  day  the  Constitution  under 
which  we  now  live  became  the  supreme  law  of  the  land. 
Though  the  conventions  of  eleven  States  had  then  rati 
fied,  but  three  had  done  so  unanimously.  To  thousands 
of  well-meaning  men  in  every  State  the  new  plan  was  of 
fensive  because  it  was  too  costly ;  because  it  was  to  be  a 
a  Government  of  three  branches  instead  of  a  Govern 
ment  of  one  ;  because  the  power  of  taxing  was  vested  in 
Congress  ;  because  liberty  of  the  press  was  not  assured  ; 
because  trial  by  jury  was  not  provided  in  civil  cases ;  be 
cause  there  was  no  provision  against  a  standing  army,  and 

182 


CENTURY  OF  CONSTITUTIONAL  INTERPRETATION.  183 

none  against  quartering  troops  on  the  people ;  because 
religious  toleration  was  not  secured ;  because  it  began 
with  "  We,  the  people,"  and  not  with  "  We,  the  States  "  ; 
because  it  was  not  only  a  Confederation,  which  it  ought 
to  be,  but  a  Government  over  individuals,  which  it  ought 
not  to  be.  In  the  conventions  of  eight  States  the  men 
holding  these  views  made  strong  efforts  to  have  the 
Constitution  altered  to  suit  their  wishes.  In  Pennsyl 
vania,  in  Connecticut,  in  Maryland,  the  "  amendment 
mongers,"  as  the  Federalists  called  them,  failed.  But 
in  five  conventions  they  did  not  fail,  and  in  these  the 
ratifications  were  voted  in  the  firm  belief  that  the 
changes  asked  for  would  be  made.  When  Washing 
ton  was  inaugurated  the  amendments  offered  numbered 
seventy-seven.  But  Congress  was  too  busy  laying  taxes, 
establishing  courts,  and  forming  departments  to  give 
any  heed  to  the  fears  and  dreads  of  a  parcel  of  country 
men.  Nor  was  it  till  the  Legislature  of  Virginia  pro 
tested  that  the  House  of  Representatives  found  time 
even  to  hear  the  amendments  read.  The  language  of 
the  protest  was  of  no  uncertain  kind. 

The  members  were  reminded  that  the  Constitution 
was  very  far  from  being  what  the  people  wished.  Many 
and  serious  objections  had  been  made  to  it.  These  ob 
jections  were  not  founded  on  idle  theories  and  vain 
speculations.  They  were  deduced  from  principles  estab 
lished  by  the  bitter  experience  of  other  nations.  The 
sooner  Congress  recognized  this  fact,  the  sooner  it  would 
gain  the  confidence  of  the  people  and  the  longer  the 
new  Government  would  last.  The  anxiety  which  the 
people  felt  would  suffer  no  delay.  Whatever  was  done 
must  be  done  at  once,  and  as  Congress  was  too  slow  to 
do  anything  at  once,  the  Virginia  Legislature  asked  that 
13 


184  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

a  convention  be  called  to  propose  amendments  and  send 
them  to  the  States.  For  a  while  it  seemed  as  if  the 
protest  from  Yirginia  would  share  the  same  fate  as  the 
amendments  from  the  States.  Is  the  Constitution,  it  was 
asked,  to  be  patched  before  it  is  worn  ?  Is  it  to  be 
mended  before  it  is  used  ?  Let  it  be  at  least  tested. 
Let  us  correct,  not  what  we  think  may  be  faults,  but 
what  time  shows  really  are  defects.  So  general  was 
this  feeling  that  the  House  w^ould  have  done  nothing 
had  not  Madison  given  notice  that  he  intended  in  a  few 
weeks  to  move  a  series  of  amendments  which  would,  he 
hoped,  do  away  with  every  objection  that  had  been 
lodged  against  the  Constitution  by  its  most  bitter  ene 
mies.  His  amendments  were  nine  in  number.  Out  of 
them  Congress  made  twelve.  The  first,  which  fixed  the 
pay  of  congressmen,  and  the  second,  which  fixed  the 
number  of  the  members  of  the  House  of  Representa 
tives,  were  rejected  by  the  States.  Ten  were  ratified, 
and  December  fifteenth,  1Y91,  they  were  declared  to  be 
in  force. 

But  the  framers  of  the  amendments  were  doomed 
to  disappointment.  Their  work  did  not  prove  to  be 
enough.  And  while  the  States  were  still  considering 
it,  the  "  mongers  "  were  clamoring  as  loudly  as  ever  for 
something  more.  Congress  had  begun  to  exercise  its 
powers.  The  exercise  of  its  powers  had  produced 
heart-burnings  and  contentions  and  warm  disputes. 
The  question  of  constitutional  right  had  been  often 
raised,  and  before  the  Government  was  two  years  old 
the  people  were  dividing  into  two  great  parties — the 
loose  constructionists  and  the  strict  constructionists ; 
the  men  who  believed  in  implied  powers  and  the  men 
who  believed  in  reserved  powers ;  the  supporters  of  a 


CENTURY  OF  CONSTITUTIONAL  INTERPRETATION.  185 

vigorous  national  government  and  the  supporters  of 
State  rights. 

It  might  seem,  at  first  sight,  that  this  diversity  of 
opinion  was  but  another  phase  of  that  general  diversity 
of  opinion  which  is  to  be  found  in  all  communities  on 
all  kinds  of  subjects — on  art,  on  music,  on  dress,  on  re 
ligion,  on  etiquette.  But  the  history  of  the  past  hun 
dred  years  goes  far  to  show  that  the  constitutional 
opinions  held  by  any  set  of  men,  at  any  particular  time, 
and  in  any  particular  place,  have  been  very  largely  de 
termined  by  expediency.  The  people,  the  Congress, 
the  Legislatures  of  the  States,  the  political  conventions, 
the  Presidents,  the  Supreme  Court,  have  each  in  turn 
interpreted  the  Constitution.  Now  the  dispute  has 
been  over  the  powers  of  Congress,  now  over  the  nature 
of  the  Constitution  itself,  now  over  the  manner  and 
meaning  of  its  ratification.  Now  the  contending  parties 
have  tormented  themselves  with  such  questions  as,  Is  it 
a  compact,  or  an  instrument  of  Government  ?  Was  it 
framed  by  the  people,  or  by  the  States  ?  Is  there  a 
common  arbiter  ?  May  the  States  interpose  ?  May  the 
General  Government  coerce  ?  May  a  State  secede  ? 
Yet  the  cases  are  few  indeed  where  the  answers  to  these 
questions  have  rested  on  great  principles  and  not  on 
expediency. 

The  contest  began  in  1790  over  the  powers  of  Con 
gress.  The  State  debts  were  assumed.  A  national 
bank  was  started.  The  first  excise  was  laid,  and  a 
round  tax  was  put  on  carriages.  Every  one  of  these 
measures  touched  the  interests  of  a  section  or  a  class. 
The  debts  of  the  Eastern  States  were  larger  than  the 
debts  of  the  Southern  States.  The  bank  stock  was  held 
by  Northern  men  to  the  exclusion  of  Southern  men. 


186  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

Whiskey  was  the  staple  of  western  Pennsylvania.  The 
cry  of  partial  legislation  was  therefore  raised,  and  the 
Legislatures  of  Pennsylvania,  of  Maryland,  of  Virginia, 
and  of  North  Carolina  denounced  the  assumption  act  as 
unconstitutional  and  infamous.  The  people  of  western 
Pennsylvania  rose  in  open  rebellion  against  the  whiskey 
tax.  A  carriage  owner,  pleading  that  the  carriage  tax 
was  direct  and  therefore  unconstitutional,  took  his  case 
to  the  Supreme  Court  and  obtained  a  definition  of  what 
is  a  direct  tax.  Even  the  President  had  doubts  as  to 
the  right  of  Congress  to  charter  a  national  bank,  and 
called  for  the  opinions  of  his  Cabinet.  The  great  leader 
of  the  Federalists  and  the  great  leader  of  the  Republi 
cans  replied,  and  each  for  himself  laid  down  rules  for 
constitutional  interpretation. 

Hamilton  approved  of  the  bank,  set  forth  the  loose 
construction  view,  and  declared  the  powers  of  Congress 
to  be  of  three  sorts — express  powers,  implied  powers, 
and  resultant  powers.  Express  powers  were,  he  said, 
such  as  are  clearly  stated  in  the  Constitution,  and  are 
well  understood.  The  implied  powers  were  not  indeed 
so  well  understood,  yet  they  were  just  as  clearly  dele 
gated.  Nowhere  did  the  Constitution  say  Congress 
shall  have  power  to  tax  whiskey,  Congress  shall  have 
power  to  tax  rum.  Yet  the  existence  of  that  power 
could  not  be  doubted,  nor  could  it  be  doubted  that  it 
was  merely  a  particular  power  implied  from  the  general 
power  to  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties,  imports,  and  ex 
cises.  Resultant  powers  were  such  as  resulted  from 
the  total  grant  of  powers. 

Jefferson  disapproved  of  the  bank,  set  forth  the 
close  construction  view,  and  would  admit  but  two  kinds 
of  powers — those  expressly  granted,  and  those  abso- 


CENTURY  OF  CONSTITUTIONAL  INTERPRETATION.  187 

lutely  necessary  (not  merely  convenient)  to  carry  out 
the  powers  expressly  given. 

The  loose  constructionists  prevailed.  The  bank 
charter  was  signed.  The  whiskey  insurrection  came  to 
nothing.  The  Supreme  Court  decided  that  a  tax  on  car 
riages  is  not  a  direct  tax,  and  the  close  constructionists, 
defeated  and  angry,  fell  back  on  their  last  resource,  and 
before  the  first  session  of  the  Second  Congress  ended  five 
constitutional  amendments,  defining  the  powers  of  Con 
gress,  appeared  in  the  Senate.  One  pronounced  every 
tax  direct  which  was  not  laid  on  imports,  excises,  trans 
fers  of  property,  and  proceedings  at  law.  Another  de 
nied  Congress  the  power  to  grant  a  charter  of  incorpo 
ration,  or  to  set  up  a  commercial  monopoly  of  any  kind. 
The  third  excluded  from  Congress  every  man  concerned 
in  the  direction  or  management  of  a  bank  or  moneyed 
corporation.  The  fourth  went  further  still,  and  pro 
posed  to  shut  out  from  the  possibility  of  a  seat  in 
either  House  any  man  who  sat  on  the  board  of  direc 
tors,  or  filled  a  clerkship,  or  owned  a  share  of  stock  of 
the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  The  fifth  proposed 
that  the  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  should  be 
vested  not  only  in  one  Supreme  Court  and  such  in 
ferior  courts  as  Congress  might  ordain  and  establish, 
but  in  such  State  courts  as  the  Congress  should  deem 
fit  to  share  it. 

The  fifth  amendment  was  aimed  full  at  the  Supreme 
Court.  On  the  bench  of  that  court  sat  John  Jay,  the 
Chief -Justice,  and  James  Wilson,  Iredell,  Cushing, 
Rutledge,  and  Blair,  the  five  associate  justices.  But 
little  business  had  come  before  them,  yet  they  had 
handed  down  two  decisions  which  seemed  to  every 
strict  constructionist  to  threaten  the  ruin  of  Kepublican 


188  WITH  THE  FATHERS 

government.  One  declared  that  the  tax  on  carriages 
was  not  direct,  and  the  other  asserted  the  right  of  a 
citizen  to  sue  a  State.  At  this  even  the  friends  of  loose 
construction  took  fright,  and  once  more  expediency  be 
came  the  cause  of  action.  The  good  people  of  Massa 
chusetts  were  at  that  very  moment  being  sued  by  an 
alien  and  a  subject  of  Great  Britain,  and  the  Legisla 
ture,  alarmed  by  the  decision  of  the  court,  bade  its 
senators,  and  requested  its  representatives,  to  spare  no 
pains  to  have  the  Constitution  amended.  The  instruc 
tions  were  obeyed,  the  eleventh  amendment  went  out 
to  the  States  in  1794,  and  in  1798  became  part  of  the 
Constitution. 

With  this  amendment  the  Supreme  Court  drops 
from  the  constitutional  discussions  for  a  time,  and  the 
behavior  of  the  President  takes  its  place.  In  1793 
France  declared  war  on  Great  Britain,  and  as  our  coun 
try  was  then  bound  to  France  by  the  treaty  of  alliance 
of  1778,  and  as  the  first  Minister  from  the  French 
Republic,  Citizen  Genet,  had  just  landed  on  our  shore, 
the  day  seemed  not  far  distant  when  the  United  States 
would  be  called  on  to  make  good  the  promise  of  the 
treaty  and  defend  the  French  West  Indies.  The  Ad 
ministration  was  for  neutrality,  and  Washington  issued 
a  proclamation  to  that  effect.  This  course  was  the  only 
wise  and  safe  one.  But  it  was  a  Federal  measure.  As 
such  it  had  to  be  opposed  ;  and  raising  the  cry  of  un 
constitutionally,  for  want  of  a  better  reason,  the  Repub 
licans  denounced  the  President  in  every  Democratic 
newspaper  and  in  every  Democratic  society  the  land 
over.  He  had,  they  claimed,  violated  the  Constitution. 
He  had  usurped  the  powers  of  Congress.  To  proclaim 
neutrality  was  to  forbid  war.  To  forbid  war  included 


CENTURY  OF  CONSTITUTIONAL  INTERPRETATION.  189 

the  power  to  declare  war,  and  the  power  to  declare  war 
had  been  expressly  delegated  to  Congress.  The  consti 
tutionality  of  the  act  was  defended  by  Hamilton  in  his 
letters  of  "  Pacificus."  What  could  be  said  against  it 
Madison  said  in  the  letters  of  "  Helvidius." 

Hardly  had  this  dispute  subsided  when  a  new  one 
arose.  The  President  and  the  Senate  had  ratified  the 
ever-memorable  treaty  of  1794,  and  the  House  had 
been  called  on  to  vote  the  money  necessary  to  put  the 
treaty  in  force.  But  the  House  was  then  in  Republican 
hands.  The  Republicans  were  determined  to  defeat 
the  treaty,  and  sought  to  do  so  by  refusing  to  vote  the 
money  needed.  This  the  Federalists  resisted  as  uncon 
stitutional.  The  treaty-making  power  was,  they  held, 
confined  to  the  President  and  the  Senate.  The  duty  of 
the  House  was  to  vote  the  money  and  be  still.  A  great 
debate  followed,  in  which  the  right  of  the  House  to 
share  in  making  treaties,  the  place  of  treaties  with 
respect  to  the  Constitution  and  the  laws,  the  proper 
subjects  of  treaties,  were  examined  with  a  keenness 
which  makes  the  debate  profitable  reading  at  the  pres 
ent  day. 

Offensive  as  the  English  treaty  was  at  home,  it  was 
doubly  so  abroad.  The  French  Directory  suspended 
the  old  treaty  of  amity  and  commerce,  recalled  their 
Minister,  sent  the  American  Minister  out  of  France, 
insulted  the  X.  Y.  Z.  commissioners,  and  brought  on 
the  quasi-war  of  1798  and  1799.  Never  since  the  days 
of  the  Stamp  Act  had  the  country  been  so  enraged. 
Numbers  of  Republicans  quit  their  seats  in  Congress 
and  hastened  home,  and  the  Federalists,  thus  left  in 
control,  passed  the  Alien  Enemy  Act,  the  Alien  Friends 
Act,  the  Naturalization  Act,  and  the  Sedition  Bill,  and 


190  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

opened  a  new  era  in  our  constitutional  history.  From 
1789  to  1798  the  discussions  had  been  confined  to  the 
text  of  the  Constitution.  The  Supreme  Court  had  de 
fined  the  meaning  of  certain  phrases.  Congress  had 
wrangled  over  the  exercise  of  certain  powers.  States 
had  declared  certain  acts  unconstitutional.  Madison, 
Hamilton,  and  Jefferson  had  laid  down  rules  for  a  cor 
rect  interpretation.  But  now  a  new  step  was  taken, 
and  in  the  resolutions  of  1798  and  1799  the  very  nature 
of  the  Constitution  was  defined  by  the  Legislatures  of 
Kentucky  and  Virginia.  The  substance  of  the  Ken 
tucky  resolutions  is  that  the  Constitution  is  a  compact ; 
that  to  this  compact  each  State  has  assented  as  a  State ; 
and  that,  as  in  all  other  cases  of  compact  among  parties 
having  no  common  judge,  each  party  has  an  equal  right 
to  judge  for  itself  as  well  of  infractions  as  of  the  mode 
and  measure  of  redress.  The  substance  of  the  Virginia 
resolutions  is  the  same,  save  that  in  them  the  right  of 
judging  and  interposing  is  given,  not  to  a  single  State, 
but  to  "  the  States,"  by  which  is  to  be  understood  an 
other  Federal  Convention. 

This  definition  made,  they  declared  the  alien  and 
sedition  laws  void  and  of  no  force,  and  called  on  the 
co-States  for  an  expression  of  opinion.  Delaware  and 
Rhode  Island,  and  Massachusetts  and  New  York,  and 
Connecticut  and  'New  Hampshire,  and  Vermont  alone 
replied.  Each  one  of  the  seven  declared  that  no  State 
Legislature  ought  to  judge  of  the  constitutionality  of 
laws  made  by  the  General  Government,  and  each  gave 
that  power  solely  to  the  Supreme  Court.  Such  was 
their  opinion  in  1799  ;  but  the  time  was  soon  to  come 
when  four  of  the  seven  would  abandon  this  doctrine, 
and  when  they  in  turn  would  defy  the  authority  of 


CENTURY  OF  CONSTITUTIONAL  INTERPRETATION.  191 

Congress,  pronounce  some  of  its  acts  unconstitutional, 
and  declare  others  null  and  void.  To  the^e  answers 
both  Virginia  and  Kentucky  made  reply,  and  in  the 
reply  of  Kentucky  was  laid  down  the  statement  that 
when  the  General  Government  is  guilty  of  a  deliberate, 
palpable,  and  dangerous  infraction  of  the  Constitution  a 
nullification  of  its  acts  by  the  sovereign  State  aggrieved 
is  the  rightful  remedy. 

At  this  time  the  new  century  opened.  The  Presi 
dential  election  of  1800  was  held,  and  Adams  was  de 
feated.  The  two  parties  changed  places,  and  with  the 
change  of  place  came  a  change  of  opinions.  To  the 
minds  of  all  true  Republicans  the  experience  of  ten 
years  had  shown  four  serious  defects  in  the  Constitu 
tion  ;  the  manner  of  electing  the  President  was  bad  ; 
the  Senate  was  too  independent  a  body ;  the  Supreme 
Court  was  breaking  down  State  rights  ;  the  powers  of 
Congress  were  not  well  defined.  These  defects  were 
thought  to  be  most  serious,  and  became  during  the  next 
ten  years  the  cause  of  a  new  batch  of  proposed  amend 
ments. 

The  most  prolific  source  of  such  was  the  contested 
election  of  1801.  Twelve  times  the  proposition  to 
change  the  constitutional  provision  for  electing  Presi 
dent  and  Yice-President  came  before  House  and  Sen 
ate.  Some  recommended  that  a  separate  ballot  for 
President  and  Yice-President  should  be  cast  by  the 
electors.  Some  were  for  choosing  the  electors  by  the 
district  system ;  some  for  declaring  no  man  eligible  to 
the  Presidency  for  more  than  four  years  in  any  term 
of  eight ;  some  that  a  person  who  has  been  twice  suc 
cessively  elected  shall  not  be  eligible  for  a  third  term 
till  four  years  have  passed,  and  then  only  for  one  term 


192  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

more.  From  1800  to  1804  the  tables  of  the  House 
and  Senate  were  never  free  from  such  propositions. 
Then,  after  four  years  of  reflection,  the  twelfth  amend 
ment  went  out  to  the  States  and  was  adopted ;  and  the 
next  session  the  whole  matter  was  up  again  for  amend 
ment. 

The  attack  on  the  judiciary  began  with  the  repeal 
of  the  Judiciary  Law  passed  by  the  Federalists  in  1801. 
Under  this  act  sixteen  new  judgeships  were  created 
and  filled  by  men  who,  the  Constitution  declared, 
should  hold  their  places  during  good  behavior.  But 
the  Republicans,  asserting  that  abolishing  the  office 
was  not  by  any  means  removing  the  man,  repealed  the 
law  and  swept  the  "midnight  judges"  out  of  place. 
This  done,  they  took  one  step  more  and  impeached  the 
Federal  judges  Pickering  and  Chase.  Pickering,  a 
raving  lunatic,  was  removed.  Chase,  the  most  hated 
Federalist  alive,  was  not  removed.  He  had  escaped,  in 
the  opinions  of  the  Republicans,  because  the  Con 
stitution  required  judges  to  be  impeached,  and  because, 
on  his  impeachment,  Federal  senators  from  Republican 
States  voted  for  acquittal.  But  his  enemies  hoped  to 
reach  him  and  others  in  time,  and  promptly  brought  in 
three  constitutional  amendments.  Again  and  again  it 
was  proposed  that  judges  of  the  Supreme  and  all  other 
courts  of  the  United  States  should  be  removed  by  the 
President  on  the  joint  address  of  both  Houses.  The 
Legislatures  of  Kentucky  and  Pennsylvania  and  Yer- 
mont  asked  that  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  and 
all  other  courts  of  the  United  States  should  hold  office 
for  a  term  of  years,  and  in  this  Massachusetts  joined. 
Another  proposition,  made  by  Pennsylvania,  was  that 
in  cases  of  impeachment  a  majority  vote  be  enough  to 


CENTURY  OF  CONSTITUTIONAL  INTERPRETATION.  193 

convict.  Another  plan  gave  power  to  each  State  Legis 
lature  to  recall  any  senator  elected  by  it  at  any  time. 
The  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  recalling  the  Sedition 
Law  so  fearlessly  administered  by  Chase,  proposed  that 
the  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  should  not  be 
construed  to  extend  to  controversies  between  a  State 
and  the  citizens  of  another  State,  between  citizens  of 
different  States,  between  citizens  of  the  same  State 
claiming  lands  under  grants  of  different  States,  and 
between  a  State  and  the  citizens  thereof  and  foreign 
States,  citizens,  or  subjects. 

It  would  have  been  well  for  Pennsylvania  could  the 
amendment  have  passed ;  for  in  1809  her  Governor  be 
came  engaged  in  a  bitter  contest  with  the  Supreme 
Court,  her  troops  were  drawn  up  around  the  home  of 
the  Kittenhouse  heirs  to  prevent  the  marshal  serving 
a  mandamus :  and  a  committee  of  her  Legislature  for 
mally  resolve  that  in  a  Government  such  as  that  of  the 
United  States,  where  there  are  powers  granted  to  the 
General  Government  and  rights  reserved  to  the  States, 
conflicts  must  arise  from  a  collision  of  powers ;  that  no 
provision  is  made  by  the  Constitution  for  determining 
such  disputes  by  an  impartial  tribunal ;  and  that  to 
suffer  the  Supreme  Court  to  decide  on  State  rights  is 
simply  to  destroy  the  Federal  part  of  our  Government. 
The  Court  triumphed.  But  the  Legislature  was  not  dis 
couraged,  and  it  framed  an  amendment  to  the  Constitu 
tion  providing  for  the  creation  of  an  impartial  tribunal 
to  decide  such  disputes,  and  called  for  an  expression  of 
opinions  by  the  co-States.  Virginia  answered,  and  in 
1810  asserted  what  in  1798  and  1799  she  had  denied— 
that  there  was  a  common  arbiter,  and  that  the  common 
arbiter  was  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 


194  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

But  Pennsylvania  was  still  unconvinced,  and  in  1811 
her  Legislature  plainly  affirmed  the  Virginia  and  Ken 
tucky  doctrine  of  1T98. 

But  the  Republican  States  were  not  the  only  ones 
with  constitutional  grievances.  The  Federal  States 
found  grievances  in  the  purchase  of  Louisiana  and  in 
the  long  embargo.  There  is  not  in  the  Constitution  an 
express  grant  of  power  to  buy  land  from  foreign 
countries.  Up  to  1803  a  Republican  would  therefore 
have  flatly  denied  that  such  a  purchase  could  legally  be 
made.  But  the  Republicans  were  now  in  power.  The 
purchase  was  most  desirable,  and  they  proceeded  to 
defend  it  by  arguments  drawn  from  the  "  general  wel 
fare  clause,"  from  the  treaty-making  power,  from  the 
war  power ;  and  they  voted  money  to  buy  Louisiana. 

The  last  of  men  to  oppose  such  a  purchase  should 
have  been  the  Federalists.  But  they  were  then  in 
opposition,  and  became  in  turn  most  strict  construction- 
ists.  They  declared  the  treaty  with  France  uncon 
stitutional  because  the  treaty-making  power  gave  no 
right  to  acquire  soil;  because  the  ports  in  Louisiana 
were  to  be  more  favored  than  ports  elsewhere  ;  because 
the  President  and  the  Senate  had  regulated  trade  with 
France  and  Spain,  a  right  the  Constitution  expressly 
declared  to  belong  to  Congress  ;  and  because  from  this 
territory  new  States  were  to  be  admitted  into  the 
Union.  New  England  looked  with  dread  on  the  ad 
mission  of  such  new  States,  and  to  keep  down  their 
votes  in  the  House  of  Representatives  Massachusetts 
proposed  a  constitutional  amendment,  asking  that 
henceforth  representation  and  direct  taxes  be  appor 
tioned  according  to  the  number  of  free  inhabitants. 
The  resolution  was  read,  was  ordered  to  lie  for  con- 


CENTURY  OF  CONSTITUTIONAL  INTERPRETATION.  195 

sideration,  and  for  eleven  years  seemed  to  be  forgotten. 
It  was  a  protest,  and  was  not  intended  to  be  anything 
more.  Seventeen  States  then  formed  the  Union.  The 
assent  of  thirteen  was  therefore  necessary  to  amend  the 
Constitution.  But  as  eight  States  tolerated  slavery,  no 
amendment  could  pass  without  the  assent  of  at  least 
four  slave  States ;  and  to  suppose  that  four  slave  States 
would  consent  to  cut  down  their  representation  at  the 
request  of  Massachusetts  was  never  seriously  thought 
of  for  a  moment.  It  was  in  truth  but  a  protest,  and 
the  first  of  a  series  of  protests  which  during  eleven 
years  continued  to  come  from  the  Federal  States  of 
New  England. 

The  next  expounding  of  the  Constitution  grew  out 
of  the  embargo  and  the  exercise  of  the  war  powers  of 
Congress  during  the  war  of  1812.  No  express  power 
to  lay  an  embargo  can  be  found  in  the  Constitution. 
But  the  Republicans  had  cast  away  much  of  their  doc 
trine  of  strict  construction,  deduced  the  right  from  the 
power  to  regulate  commerce,  passed  the  laws  of  1807 
and  1808,  and  heard  their  constitutional  right  so  to  do 
denied  by  the  very  men  who  in  1794  had  been  instru 
mental  in  passing  an  embargo.  To  explain  this  was 
easy.  The  Federal  embargo  of  1794  was  laid,  it  was 
said,  for  a  short  time,  and  was  a  regulation  of  com 
merce.  The  Republican  embargo  of  1807  was  for  an 
unlimited  time,  and  was  a  destruction  of  commerce. 
Congress  had  power  to  regulate  commerce,  therefore 
the  Federal  embargo  of  1794  was  constitutional.  Con 
gress  had  no  power  to  destroy  commerce,  therefore  the 
Republican  embargo  of  1807  was  not  constitutional. 
This  interpretation  the  Legislature  of  every  Federal 
State,  and  the  people  of  every  Federal  county  and 


196  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

town,  accepted  and  asserted,  and  piled  the  table  of  the 
Tenth  Congress  high  with  addresses  and  memorials  all 
declaring  that  the  embargo  acts  were  oppressive,  un 
constitutional,  null,  and  void.  But  the  only  reply  to 
such  remonstrance  was  an  act,  to  them  more  infamous 
still— the  "  Force  Act"  of  1809. 

Since  the  days  of  the  Alien  and  Sedition  laws 
power  so  vast  had  never  been  bestowed  on  the  Presi 
dent.  Indeed,  what  the  Alien  and  Sedition  acts  were 
to  Virginia  and  Kentucky  in  1798  that  was  the  Force 
Act  to  New  England  in  1809.  With  one  voice  the 
Federalists  denounced  it,  and  with  one  consent  as 
serted  the  doctrine  of  State  interposition.  The  people 
of  Boston  voted  it  repugnant  to  the  true  intent  and 
meaning  of  the  Constitution,  and  petitioned  the  Legis 
lature  to  interfere  and  save  the  people  from  the  ruin 
ous  consequences  of  the  system.  From  Portland  came 
a  call  to  adopt  such  measures  as  in  1776  were  used 
"  to  dash  in  pieces  the  shackles  of  tyranny."  The  peo 
ple  of  Hallowell  declared  that  when  those  delegated  to 
make  and  execute  laws  transcend  the  powers  given 
them  by  a  fair  construction  of  the  instrument  whence 
their  powers  come,  such  a  law  is  null ;  they  voted  the 
Force  Act  such  a  law,  and  petitioned  the  Legislature 
to  interfere  and  stop  the  career  of  usurpation.  The 
New  Haven  meeting  described  the  act  as  repugnant 
to  the  Constitution,  oppressive,  and  a  violation  of 
the  constitutional  guarantees  that  "  excessive  bail  shall 
not  be  required,  nor  excessive  fine  imposed,"  nor  "  the 
right  of  the  people  to  be  secure  in  their  persons, 
houses,  papers,  and  effects "  violated.  Delaware  pro 
nounced  the  act  "  an  invasion  of  the  liberty  of  the  peo 
ple  and  the  constitutional  sovereignty  of  the  States." 


CENTURY  OF  CONSTITUTIONAL  INTERPRETATION.  197 

A  committee  of  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts,  to 
which  the  petitions  were  referred,  reported  that  the 
embargo  acts  were  oppressive,  unjust,  unconstitutional, 
and  not  legally  binding  on  the  citizens  of  the  State. 
They  too  recommended  interposition,  but  interposi 
tion  in  the  form  of  an  act  to  protect  the  citizens 
against  unreasonable,  arbitrary,  and  unconstitutional 
searches  of  their  dwellings.  And  now  the  Kepublicans 
gave  way,  and  in  1809  the  embargo  was  lifted. 

The  third  decade  of  our  history  under  the  Constitu 
tion  covers  the  war  of  1812.  A  week  before  the  war 
was  formally  declared  General  Dearborn,  by  order  of 
the  President,  issued  a  call  on  the  States  for  militia. 
In  most  of  the  States  the  call  was  promptly  obeyed. 
But  in  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  Rhode  Island 
the  troops  were  flatly  refused.  There  were,  in  the 
opinions  of  the  Governors,  but  three  purposes  for  which 
the  militia  of  a  State  could  be  called  out  by  a  Presi 
dent,  and  these  three  were :  to  repel  invasion,  to  exe 
cute  the  laws,  to  suppress  insurrection.  But  the  laws 
were  everywhere  executed.  There  were  no  insurrec 
tions  to  put  down.  ~No  enemy  had  invaded  the  soil. 
The  call  was  therefore  unconstitutional.  This  inter 
pretation  was  approved  in  Massachusetts  by  the  judges, 
in  Khode  Island  by  the  Council,  and  in  Connecticut 
by  the  Assembly,  which  now  in  turn  put  forth  a  defini 
tion  of  the  Constitution  and  the  rights  of  the  States 
under  it.  In  this  she  declares  that  the  State  of  Con 
necticut  is  a  free,  sovereign,  and  independent  State; 
that  the  United  States  are  a  confederacy  of  States; 
that  we  are  a  confederated  and  not  a  consolidated  re 
public  ;  and  that  the  same  Constitution  which  delegates 
powers  to  the  General  Government  forbids  the  exercise 


198  WITH  THE  FATHERS, 

of  powers  not  delegated,  and  reserves  them  to  the 
States  respectively. 

Two  years  now  passed  by,  and  New  England  was 
again  aflame.  The  cause  was  the  refusal  of  the  Gov 
ernment  to  defend  the  coast,  and  the  desperate  efforts 
of  the  two  secretaries  to  get  troops  and  sailors  for  the 
war.  The  need  of  men  for  the  army  and  the  navy 
brought  before  Congress  the  conscript  plan  of  the  Sec 
retary  of  War,  the  impressment  plan  of  the  Secretary 
of  the  Navy,  the  bill  to  enlist  minors  without  the  con 
sent  of  their  parents  or  guardians;  and  Connecticut 
bade  her  Governor,  if  they  passed,  call  the  Legislature 
together  that  steps  might  be  taken  to  preserve  the  rights 
and  liberties  of  the  people  and  the  freedom  and  sover 
eignty  of  the  State.  The  refusal  of  the  General  Gov 
ernment  to  defend  the  coast  of  New  England  drew 
from  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  the  call  for  the 
Hartford  Convention.  To  it  came  delegates  from  the 
States  of  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  and  Connecti 
cut,  chosen  by  the  legislatures,  and  delegates  from  two 
counties  in  New  Hampshire  and  one  in  Yermont,  chosen 
by  conventions  of  the  people.  Their  duty  was  to  de 
vise  and  suggest  for  adoption,  by  the  respective  States, 
such  measures  as  they  might  deem  expedient,  and  if 
necessary  provide  for  calling  a  convention  of  all  the 
States  to  revise  the  Constitution. 

They  deemed  it  expedient  to  propose  seven  amend 
ments  to  the  Constitution.  They  would  have  had  rep 
resentatives  and  direct  taxes  apportioned  according  to 
the  number  of  free  persons.  They  would  have  had  no 
new  States  admitted  into  the  Union  without  consent  of 
two  thirds  of  both  Houses  of  Congress ;  no  embargo 
laid  for  more  than  sixty  days ;  no  President  ever  re- 


CENTURY  OF  CONSTITUTIONAL  INTERPRETATION.  199 

elected,  and  no  two  consecutive  Presidents  from  the 
same  State.  They  would  have  cut  off  naturalized  citi 
zens  from  seats  in  Congress  and  civil  offices  under  the 
authority  of  the  United  States.  They  would  have  made 
a  two-thirds'  vote  of  both  Houses  necessary  to  lay  a 
commercial  restriction  or  to  pass  a  declaration  of  offen 
sive  war. 

These  in  time  were  duly  laid  before  Congress,  where 
they  were  buried  under  a  host  of  other  amendments. 
The  old  proposition  to  remove  judges  by  joint  address 
of  both  Houses  had  come  up  three  times ;  to  elect  the 
President  by  district  system,  six  times.  There,  too,  were 
others  designed  to  shorten  the  term  of  senators ;  to  give 
Congress  and  the  States  concurrent  power  to  train  the 
militia ;  to  prevent  increase  of  pay  of  congressmen  till 
after  one  election  had  intervened ;  to  declare  that  if  any 
citizen  of  the  United  States  shall  accept,  or  receive,  or 
retain,  or  claim  any  title  of  nobility  or  of  honor,  or 
shall,  without  leave  of  Congress,  accept  any  present, 
any  pension,  any  office,  any  emolument  of  any  kind, 
from  emperor,  king,  prince,  or  foreign  power,  he  shall 
cease  to  be  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  and  be  incapa 
ble  of  holding  office.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  this  last 
proposition  passed  each  House,  was  approved  by  the 
President,  went  out  to  the  States,  and  may  be  found  in 
copies  of  the  Constitution  printed  in  Madison's  term,  as 
article  thirteenth  of  the  amendments.  When  the  House 
in  18 IT  called  on  the  President  for  an  explanation,  it 
came  out  that  twelve  States  had  ratified,  that  thirteen 
would  have  put  it  in  force,  and,  supposing  the  thirteen 
would  surely  be  obtained,  the  amendment  had  been  in 
serted  by  the  Secretary  of  State  in  the  copies  of  the 
Constitution  ordered  printed  by  Congress. 
14 


200  WITH  THE  BATHERS. 

More  curious  still  was  an  amendment  providing  for 
the  abolition  of  the  Vice-Presidency,  the  yearly  elec 
tion  of  representatives,  the  triennial  election  of  sena 
tors,  and  the  choice  of  President  by  lot.  The  senators 
were  to  be  parted  into  three  classes,  one  of  which  was 
to  go  out  each  year.  These  retiring  senators,  called  up 
in  alphabetical  order,  were,  in  the  presence  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  to  draw  each  a  ball  from  a 
box.  One  ball  was  colored,  the  rest  were  white ;  and 
the  man  fortunate  enough  to  draw  the  colored  ball  was 
to  be  President  for  a  twelvemonth. 

Mingled  with  these  were  a  few  propositions  which 
began  to  show  the  first  results  of  the  war.  Congress 
was  to  have  power  to  lay  a  duty  of  ten  per  cent,  on  ex 
ports,  build  roads  and  canals  in  any  State  with  the  con 
sent  of  the  State,  and  establish  a  national  bank  with 
branches.  From  the  President  was  to  be  taken  all 
power  to  approve  or  disapprove  bills.  To  Congress 
was  to  be  given  power  to  appoint  heads  of  all  depart 
ments,  fill  all  vacancies  in  the  judiciary,  and  appoint 
all  office-holders  under  the  Government  of  the  United 
States. 

In  nothing  is  the  spread  of  the  loose-construction 
idea  so  well  shown  as  in  the  feeling  of  the  Republicans 
toward  the  National  Bank.  In  1791  they  denounced 
it.  In  1811  they  refused  to  recharter  it.  But  now  in 
1816  they  reprinted  the  arguments  of  Hamilton  to 
prove  the  constitutionality  of  a  bank,  and  passed  the 
charter  of  the  second  bank,  which  Madison,  the  opposer 
of  banks,  signed,  and  which  the  Supreme  Court,  in 
1819,  declared  constitutional.  But  while  the  question 
of  constitutionality  thus  disappeared,  the  ancient  hatred 
remained.  It  was  still  to  the  popular  mind  a  "  moneyed 


CENTURY  OF  CONSTITUTIONAL  INTERPRETATION.  201 

monopoly,"  an  "  engine  of  aristocracy,"  a  great  monster 
"  trampling  on  the  vitals  of  the  people." 

The  charter  of  the  bank  marked,  for  a  time,  the 
limit  of  broad  construction.  This  limit  reached,  a  re 
action  followed,  and  with  the  opening  of  the  fourth  de 
cade  began  a  new  contest  over  State  rights.  Ohio  had 
taxed  two  branches  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States, 
and  when  the  bank  resisted  had  sent  her  officers  to 
break  open  the  vaults  and  carry  off  the  tax  money  by 
force.  The  bank  entered  suit  against  the  officers  in  the 
Circuit  Court  of  the  United  States  and  won  it,  and  Ohio 
in  her  turn  affirmed  her  belief  in  State  rights  and  nul 
lification.  She  protested  against  the  decision  of  the 
Court  as  a  violation  of  that  amendment  of  the  Constitu 
tion  which  declares  that  a  State  may  not  be  sued.  She 
protested  against  the  doctrine  that  "  the  political  rights 
of  the  separate  States  that  compose  the  American 
Union,  and  their  powers  as  sovereign  States,  may  be 
settled  and  determined  by  the  Supreme  Court."  She 
"approved  the  resolutions  of  Kentucky  and  Virginia," 
and  called  on  each  State  for  an  expression  of  opinion. 
None  replied.  But  eight  soon  followed  her  example. 
The  first  was  Kentucky ;  and  from  her  in  1822  came  a 
constitutional  amendment  proposing  that  in  all  suits  to 
which  a  State  was  a  party  an  appeal  should  lie  to  the 
Senate. 

New  York  came  next.  In  1824  the  United  States 
set  up  a  claim  to  the  right  to  require  boats  navigating 
canals  to  take  out  licenses  and  pay  tonnage  duty,  and  a 
resolution  appeared  in  the  New  York  Assembly  declar 
ing  that  the  State  must  interfere  in  defence  of  her  citi 
zens.  The  Federal  courts  in  1822  declared  unconsti 
tutional  the  South  Carolina  acts  according  to  which  any 


202  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

free  negro  sailor  who  came  into  the  ports  of  the  State 
could  be  imprisoned  until  he  sailed  again.  Governor 
Wilson,  when  stating  this  decision  to  the  Legislature, 
called  on  the  members  to  preserve  the  sovereignty  and 
independence  of  their  State,  and  told  them  it  would  be 
better  "  to  form  a  rampart  with  our  bodies  on  the  con 
fines  of  our  territory  "  than  to  be  "  the  slaves  of  a  great 
consolidated  government."  The  Legislature  replied 
that  the  law  of  self-preservation  was  above  all  laws, 
all  treaties,  all  constitutions,  and  would  never  be  shared 
with  any  other  power. 

In  1824  Congress  passed  the  "  Woollen  Bill,"  and 
Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Georgia, 
Alabama,  and  Mississippi  made  haste  to  declare  that 
the  tariff,  and  the  internal  improvements  for  which 
they  believed  the  tariff  laid,  were  not  authorized  by  the 
plain  construction,  true  intent,  and  meaning  of  the  Con 
stitution.  Each  defined  the  Constitution  as  a  compact 
into  which  each  State  had  entered  as  a  sovereign  State. 
Each  asserted  that  no  common  arbiter  was  known,  and 
that  each  State  therefore  had  the  right  to  construe  the 
compact  for  itself.  Each  then  proceeded  to  construe  it, 
and  declared  that  the  power  to  lay  important  duties  was 
given  for  the  purpose  of  revenue  and  revenue  only,  and 
that  every  other  use  of  it  was  a  palpable  usurpation  of 
power  not  given  by  the  Constitution. 

To  these  resolutions  Congress  gave  no  heed,  and  in 
1828  passed  the  "tariff  of  abominations."  Then  the 
indignation  of  the  South  burst  forth.  On  the  day  the 
news  reached  Charleston  and  Savannah,  every  British 
ship  in  the  harbors  pulled  down  its  flag  to  half-mast. 
For  months  not  a  public  dinner  was  given  in  the  South 
but  the  diners  drank  destruction  to  the  American  sys- 


CENTURY  OF  CONSTITUTIONAL  INTERPRETATION.  203 

tern  and  prosperity  to  State  rights.  In  scores  of  towns 
the  sky  was  reddened  by  burning  effigies  of  Henry 
Clay. 

In  the  midst  of  this  commotion  Senator  Foote,  of 
Connecticut,  moved  that  the  Committee  on  Public 
Lands  be  instructed  to  inquire  whether  it  be  expedi 
ent  to  limit  for  a  while  the  sale  of  lands  to  such  as  had 
already  been  offered  and  were  then  subject  to  entry ; 
and  so  brought  on  the  Webster-Hayne  debate.  There 
was  nothing  in  the  motion  of  a  constitutional  nature, 
but  the  tariff,  and  the  acts  of  South  Carolina  on  the 
tariff,  were  the  topics  of  the  hour  and  could  not  be  kept 
from  the  discussion.  During  three  days  the  Senate 
and  the  crowd  that  packed  the  chamber  heard  the  Con 
stitution  expounded  as  it  was  never  expounded  before. 
The  Virginia  doctrine  of  1798  pronounced  the  Constitu 
tion  a  compact  between  sovereign  States,  denied  that  any 
common  arbiter  existed,  and  asserted  the  right  of  inter 
position  by  "  the  States."  But  the  Carolina  doctrine  as 
now  set  forth  by  Hayne  was  the  Kentucky  doctrine  of 
179 8,  and  asserted  the  right  of  nullification  by  a  single 
State;  and  asserted  that  right,  not  as  a  revolutionary 
right  existing  on  the  ground  of  extreme  necessity,  but 
as  a  sovereign  right  existing  under  the  Constitution. 

Thus  set  forth,  nullification  became  a  favorite  doc 
trine,  and  in  1830  was  adopted  by  Massachusetts,  and 
in  1831  and  in  1832  by  Maine.  William,  King  of  the 
Netherlands,  had  rendered  his  decision  on  the  disputed 
Northeast  boundary,  and  had  traced  out  a  line  which, 
had  it  been  accepted,  would  have  deprived  both  Maine 
and  Massachusetts  of  large  tracts  of  land.  But  Massa 
chusetts  notified  the  General  Government  that  it  would 
be  well  not  to  accept  the  decision,  as  any  act  purporting 


204  WITH  THE  FATHEliS. 

to  carry  it  out  would  be  "  wholly  null  and  void,  and  in 
no  way  obligatory"  on  their  Government  or  people. 
Maine  declared  she  would  never  consent  to  give  up  an 
acre  of  her  territory  on  the  recommendation  of  any 
foreign  power.  The  decision  of  William  was  not  ac 
cepted,  and  no  chance  was  given  the  States  to  carry  out 
their  threats.  But  the  hour  was  at  hand  when  another 
State,  for  another  reason,  was  to  make  the  test. 

The  "  Southern  movement "  of  1828  and  1829,  the 
burning  effigies,  the  toasts,  the  remonstrances,  the  reso 
lutions,  the  boycotts,  had  all  been  lost  upon  the  tariff- 
men.  The  threat  of  nullification,  the  threat  of  interpo 
sition,  the  threat  of  resistance,  had  been  made  by  so 
many  States,  in  so  many  parts  of  the  Union,  that  they 
had  lost  all  terrors.  Virginia  and  Kentucky,  and 
Pennsylvania,  and  Ohio,  and  New  York,  and  North 
Carolina,  and  South  Carolina,  and  Mississippi,  and  Ala 
bama,  and  Georgia,  and  Massachusetts,  and  Maine  had 
each  made  them,  and  it  was  well  known  that  more  than 
one  State  had  made  them  never  intending  to  carry  them 
out.  The  tariff -men  therefore,  quite  undismayed,  laid 
the  great  tariff  of  1832.  But  the  threat  of  one  State 
was  not  idle ;  and  November  nineteenth,  1832,  a  Con 
vention  of  South  Carolina  delegates  declared  the  tariff 
laws  no  longer  binding  on  her  people. 

And  now  the  States  were  called  on  to  make  good 
their  threats,  and  one  by  one  proved  wanting.  A  year 
before,  the  Legislature  of  Maine  had  declared,  "  Maine 
is  not  bound  by  the  Constitution  to  submit  to  the  de 
cision  which  is  or  shall  be  made  under  the  Convention." 
But  she  now  declared  nullification  to  be  "neither  a 
safe,  peaceable,  nor  constitutional  remedy."  Massachu 
setts  had  declared  that  any  law  to  carry  out  the  decision 


CENTURY  OF  CONSTITUTIONAL  INTERPRETATION.  205 

of  the  King  of  the  Netherlands  would  be  "  wholly  null 
and  void."  But  she  now  declared  that  while  she  would 
resist  a  law  she  would  not  nullify.  The  Legislature  of 
Ohio  in  1820  had  expressly  adopted  the  Virginia  and 
Kentucky  resolutions  of  1798  and  1800.  Eut  there, 
too,  opinions  had  changed  ;  and  Ohio  now  declared  that 
the  doctrine  that  a  State  has  power  to  nullify  a  law  of 
the  General  Government  is  revolutionary  and  "  calcu 
lated  to  overthrow  the  great  temple  of  American 
liberty." 

But  it  is  needless  to  recall  the  long  resolutions 
passed  by  the  States  ;  the  proclamation  of  Jackson ;  the 
great  debate  in  the  Senate  between  Webster,  Calhoun, 
and  Clay  ;  the  offer  of  Virginia  to  mediate  ;  the  call  of 
Georgia  for  a  Southern  Convention ;  the  Force  Act 
passed  by  Congress ;  or  the  compromise  measures 
which  persuaded  South  Carolina  to  repeal  her  ordi 
nance  of  November,  1832.  It  is  enough  to  know  that 
each  party  held  to  its  principles  while  it  gave  up  its 
particular  acts.  The  tariff  of  1832  was  altered,  but  the 
constitutionality  of  the  protective  tariff  was  not  given 
up.  The  ordinance  of  nullification  was  repealed,  but 
the  right  to  nullify  and  secede  was  not  disavowed. 
Then  was  the  time  to  have  secured  such  a  disavowal. 
The  States  had  committed  themselves  against  the  doc 
trine  and  could  not  have  refused  a  constitutional 
amendment  forbidding  it.  But  no  such  amendment 
was  offered. 

Of  the  amendments  that  were  offered  in  the  House 
and  Senate,  one  proposed  to  give  Congress  power  to 
build  roads  and  canals ;  another,  to  carry  on  internal 
improvements  for  national  purposes ;  a  third,  that 
money  used  for  building  roads  and  digging  canals 


206  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

should  be  apportioned  according  to  population.  A 
fourth  related  to  the  bank ;  for  the  charter  of  the  sec 
ond  National  Bank,  in  1816,  again  brought  up  the 
question  of  constitutionality,  and  Pennsylvania,  Ohio, 
and  Indiana  demanded  that  an  amendment  be  added 
forbidding  the  charter  of  any  bank  except  for  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia.  But  the  amendment  which  was 
always  present,  which  was  rejected  and  tabled  and  post 
poned,  sent  to  special  committees,  to  the  Judiciary 
Committee,  to  the  Committee  of  the  Whole,  passed  in 
one  House  and  rejected  in  another,  yet  never  for  a  ses 
sion  absent  from  the  journals,  related  to  the  manner 
of  electing  the  President.  The  extension  of  the  fran 
chise  in  some  of  the  States,  and  the  rapid  growth  of 
what  Benton  called  the  "demos  krateo"  in  all  the 
States,  had  greatly  strengthened  the  belief  that  the  peo 
ple,  and  the  people  alone,  should  choose  the  President. 
From  1820  to  1825,  therefore,  the  old  amendment  for 
a  choice  of  electors  by  districts  was  urged  over  and 
over  again. 

For  twenty  years  the  Presidents  had  been  natives 
of  Virginia,  and  for  twenty-four  years  ex-Secretaries 
of  State.  But  against  these  a  revolt  now  took  place. 
They  also  became  the  cause  of  proposed  constitutional 
amendments.  No  man  was  to  be  eligible  to  the  Presi 
dency  who  had  been  a  congressman  within  two  years, 
or  held  any  office  under  the  Government  within  five 
years  of  the  day  of  election.  The  States  were  to  be  ar 
ranged  in  four  classes  and  a  President  to  be  taken  out 
of  each  class  in  rotation. 

With  such  idle  schemes  Congress  went  on  amusing 
itself  till  the  memorable  election  of  1824.  Then  the 
Electoral  College  a  second  time  failed  to  make  a  choice, 


CENTURY  OF  CONSTITUTIONAL  INTERPRETATION.  207 

and  a  second  time  a  President  was  chosen  by  the  House 
of  Representatives.  This  time  the  man  of  the  people 
was  beaten,  the  will  of  the  people  was  said  to  have  been 
defied,  and  senators,  representatives,  and  State  legisla 
tures  joined  in  one  demand  that  the  college  of  electors 
be  swept  away. 

Hardly  had  the  election  been  decided  in  the  House 
when  Mr.  McDuine,  of  South  Carolina,  proposed  that 
the  election  of  President  should  never  be  made  by  Con 
gress  ;  that  there  should  be  a  direct  vote  of  the  people 
by  districts,  and  that  the  man  who  carried  a  majority 
of  the  districts  should  be  President.  Buchanan  was 
for  giving  the  choice  in  contested  elections  to  the  State 
legislatures.  Hayne  was  against  all  intervention  of 
Congress.  Dickerson  was  against  a  third  term,  and  the 
Senate  sent  his  amendment  to  the  House.  Phelps  was 
for  going  back  to  the  old  custom  abolished  by  the 
twelfth  amendment.  Sloane  was  for  a  per  capita  elec 
tion  throughout  the  United  States.  Benton,  from  the 
Senate  committee,  reported  in  favor  of  a  popular  vote 
in  districts ;  the  abolition  of  the  Electoral  College ;  a 
majority  of  districts  necessary  to  a  choice,  and  when  no 
majority  a  re-election  as  before ;  if  no  choice  then,  a 
choice  by  the  Congress.  So  vital  had  the  question  be 
come,  that  in  the  four  years  of  Mr.  Adams's  Presidency 
thirty-three  amendments  concerning  it  were  offered  in 
the  House  and  Senate.  Then,  wearied  with  it  all,  a 
member  urged  giving  Congress  power,  after  1830,  to 
propose  amendments  every  ten  years  and  no  oftener. 
But  the  manner  of  election  was  not  changed.  Jackson 
was  chosen  in  the  old  way ;  the  dread  which  the  Demo 
crats  had  of  the  Electoral  College  ended,  and  the  dispute 
over  the  manner  of  electing  was  changed  to  a  dispute 


208  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

over  the  length  of  term.  Jackson,  in  his  message  to  Con 
gress,  asked  for  a  definite  limit,  and  more  amendments 
followed.  Some  would  give  a  President  no  more  than 
two  terms ;  some,  one  term  of  four  years ;  others,  one 
term  of  five.  Again  nothing  was  done,  and  again  the 
President  returned  to  the  subject  in  his  message  in  De 
cember,  1836.  The  select  committee  reported  on  it 
and  were  discharged,  and  the  proposition  came  up  reg 
ularly  each  session,  only  to  be  thrust  aside  by  others 
more  pressing. 

On  March  fourth,  1829,  Jackson  began  what  his 
enemies  have  called  his  "  reign,"  and  the  amendments 
offered  during  his  terms  were  prompted  more  by  the 
bitter  hatred  the  Whigs  felt  toward  him  than  by  any 
public  necessity.  He  removed  men  from  office  by 
hundreds;  and  the  Whigs  retaliated  by  offering  an 
amendment  that  all  tenure  of  office  not  otherwise  pro 
vided  for  by  the  Constitution  should  be  regulated  by 
Congress.  He  demanded  that  Duane  should  withdraw 
the  deposits  from  the  Bank  of  the  United  States. 
Duane  refused,  was  removed,  and  for  this  the  Whigs 
retaliated  with  an  amendment  that  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  should  be  chosen  annually  by  the  joint  vote 
of  House  and  Senate  and  should  nominate,  and  by  and 
with  the  advice  of  the  Senate  appoint,  all  officers  whose 
duty  it  was  to  disburse  the  revenues.  Jackson  gave 
five  members  of  Congress  places  in  the  Cabinet. 
Three  more  he  sent  to  foreign  courts.  Four  more  he 
made  comfortable  with  collectorships,  appraiserships, 
and  district  attorneyships,  and  to  stop  him  the  Whigs 
proposed  a  third  amendment.  By  it  senators  and  rep 
resentatives  were  not  to  be  eligible  to  any  office  in  the 
gift  of  President  or  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  during 


CENTURY  OF  CONSTITUTIONAL  INTERPRETATION.  209 

the  term  for  which  they  were  elected  to  sit  in  Con 
gress,  nor  for  two  years  thereafter.  But  the  great 
constitutional  question  was  the  right  to  abolish  slav 
ery. 

The  Missouri  Compromise  had  stirred  up  Benjamin 
Lundy,  Benjamin  Lundy  had  stirred  up  Garrison,  and 
Garrison  in  turn  had  roused  the  antislavery  feeling  of 
the  North.  Hundreds  of  antislavery  societies  had 
sprung  into  existence,  and  from  these  petitions,  signed, 
it  is  said,  by  thirty -four  thousand  names,  praying  for  the 
abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  came 
pouring  in.  Once  more  the  interests  of  a  section  were 
attacked.  Once  more  expediency  produced  the  charge 
of  unconstitutionality.  Congress  had  no  power  to  abol 
ish  slavery  anywhere.  To  ask  it  to  abolish  slavery  was 
to  ask  it  to  do  an  unconstitutional  act,  and  petitions 
making  such  requests  were  themselves  unconstitutional 
and  ought  not  to  be  received.  A  motion  that  the 
House  of  Representatives  would  not  receive  any  peti 
tion  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Co 
lumbia  was  sent  to  a  committee.  From  that  committee, 
in  May,  1836,  came  a  report  that  Congress  had  no 
power  to  interfere  with  slavery  in  any  of  the  States ; 
that  it  ought  not  to  interfere  with  it  in  the  District  of 
Columbia;  and  that  all  "petitions,  memorials,  resolu 
tions,  or  papers,  relating  in  any  way  or  to  any  extent 
whatever  to  the  subject  of  slavery  or  the  abolition  of 
slavery,  shall,  without  being  either  printed  or  referred, 
be  laid  upon  the  table,  and  that  no  further  action 
whatever  shall  be  had  thereon." 

Thus  was  the  Constitution  violated.  Thus  was  the 
famous  "  gag  rule  "  enacted.  Thus  was  begun  the  glo 
rious  contest  waged  by  John  Quincy  Adams  in  behalf 


210  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

of  the  right  of  petition.  Thus  was  slavery  brought  up 
for  settlement  under  the  Constitution. 

On  March  fourth,  1837,  Andrew  Jackson  quit  office 
and  Martin  Yan  Buren  began  what  the  Whigs  called 
"Jackson's  Appendix,"  and  during  four  years  the 
amendments  offered  were  Whig  amendments,  setting 
forth  old  Whig  principles.  The  President  was  to  have 
one  term.  Congressmen  were  to  be  ineligible  to  offices 
in  the  gift  of  the  President  for  two  years  after  the  close 
of  the  term  for  which  they  were  elected  to  serve  in 
Congress.  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  were  to  serve 
for  seven  years  and  no  longer.  With  these  came  up 
from  time  to  time  other  amendments  expressive  of  the 
moral  sense  of  the  community.  The  collector  of  the 
port  of  New  York  ,went  off  a  defaulter  for  one  million 
five  hundred  thousand  dollars  ;  Congressman  Cilley  was 
murdered  in  a  duel. 

Shocked  at  such  enormities,  the  whole  community 
cried  out  for  reform,  and  two  constitutional  amendments 
promptly  appeared  in  Congress.  Embezzlers  were  to 
be  forever  disfranchised.  Duellists  were  to  be  forever 
shut  out  from  office-holding  under  the  Government  of 
the  United  States. 

But  all  of  these  were  overshadowed  by  the  great 
constitutional  question  of  the  hour — the  right  of  Con 
gress  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 
In  the  two  years  which  had  elapsed  since  the  "gag 
rule  "  was  passed  a  great  moral  awakening  had  begun. 
Slavery,  as  well  as  duellists  and  embezzlers,  was  grow 
ing  hateful,  and  the  antislavery  movement  had  en 
tered  the  political  field  to  stay.  The  Legislature  of 
Massachusetts  pronounced  the  "  gag  rule  "  unconstitu 
tional,  and  asserted  that  Congress  had  power  to  abolish 


CENTURY  OF  CONSTITUTIONAL  INTERPRETATION.  211 

slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  So  did  Vermont. 
Connecticut  repealed  the  "  black  code."  From  a  few 
hundred  in  1835,  the  antislavery  societies  rose  to  two 
thousand  in  1 837.  The  abolition  petitions  which  reached 
Congress  in  the  early  months  of  1838  are  said  to  have 
borne  signatures  traced  by  three  hundred  thousand 
hands.  Then  was  it  that  Calhoun  brought  in  five  reso 
lutions  defining  the  powers  of  Congress  and  the  States 
over  slavery.  Then  was  it  that  Mr.  Clay  moved  eight 
more  on  slavery,  the  slave-trade,  and  the  petitions. 
Then  was  it  that  Mr.  Atherton  moved  yet  another  five, 
drawn  up  by  the  Democratic  caucus,  declaring  that  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  was  a  Government 
of  limited  powers  and  had  no  jurisdiction  over  slavery 
in  the  States ;  that  petitions  to  abolish  slavery  in  the 
District  and  the  Territories  were  part  of  a  plan  indi 
rectly  to  destroy  slavery  in  the  State ;  that  as  Congress 
could  not  do  indirectly  what  it  could  not  do  directly, 
these  petitions  were  against  the  true  intent  and  spirit 
of  the  Constitution,  and  that  they  ought,  when  pre 
sented,  to  be  laid  on  the  table  without  being  debated, 
printed,  or  referred.  One  by  one  they  were  adopted, 
and  hardly  were  they  adopted  when  a  member  moved 
an  explanation. 

The  States  were  not  associated  on  principles  of 
unlimited  submission.  The  Federal  Government  was 
a  Government  of  limited  and  specific  powers  derived 
from  the  people  of  the  States,  and  the  House  of  Rep 
resentatives  in  adopting  the  "gag  rule"  had  but  ful 
filled  its  constitutional  duty  and  in  no  way  infringed 
the  right  of  petition  or  the  freedom  of  debate.  Then 
was  it  that  John  Quincy  Adams  moved  the  first  anti- 
slavery  constitutional  amendment.  Save  Florida,  no 


212  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

slave  State  should  ever  again  be  admitted  into  the 
Union.  On  July  fourth,  1842,  hereditary  slavery  was 
to  cease  and  all  negroes  born  after  that  day  to  be  for 
ever  free.  On  July  fourth,  1845,  there  was  to  be  an 
end  made  to  slavery  and  the  slave-trade  in  the  District 
of  Columbia. 

A  week  later  the  first  half -century  under  the  Con 
stitution  ended.  The  second  half  opened  with  a  lull  in 
constitutional  discussion.  During  two  years  not  an 
amendment  was  offered.  There  began  a  new  thresh 
ing  of  the  old  straw.  The  term  of  the  judges,  the 
term  of  the  President,  the  manner  of  electing  him,  the 
exclusion  of  congressmen  from  office,  were  repeatedly 
made  the  subjects  of  proposed  amendments.  There 
was  a  long  debate  on  the  constitutionality  of  the  pro 
tective  tariff.  There  was  a  renewal  by  Massachusetts 
of  the  old  demand  that  representation  and  direct  taxes 
be  apportioned  according  to  the  number  of  free  inhabi 
tants,  and  of  the  old  question  of  the  constitutionality  of 
a  bank. 

The  great  Whig  victory  of  1840  turned  over  the 
administration  of  affairs  to  the  loose-construction  party. 
But  the  death  of  Harrison  in  1841  gave  it  back  again 
to  the  strict  constructionists ;  for  such  Tyler  had  always 
been  and  such  he  always  remained.  Still  the  Whigs 
were  not  dismayed,  and  one  by  one  brought  forward 
their  promised  reforms.  They  repealed  the  Sub-Treas 
ury  Act,  and  Tyler  signed  the  bill.  But  he  vetoed,  as 
unconstitutional,  the  bill  to  establish  "  The  Fiscal  Bank 
of  the  United  States,"  and  the  bill  to  establish  a  "  Fis 
cal  Corporation." 

For  this,  Whig  voters  burned  him  in  effigy  all  over 
the  Union.  For  this,  the  Whig  caucus  read  him  out  of 


CENTURY  OF  CONSTITUTIONAL  INTERPRETATION.  213 

the  party,  arid  in  an  earnest  address  to  the  people  called 
for  a  lessening  of  the  executive  power  by  limiting  the 
veto,  by  restricting  the  President  to  a  single  term,  and 
by  giving  the  appointment  of  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
to  Congress.  The  people  gave  the  address  small  heed ; 
but  the  great  "Whig  leader  did,  and  in  December,  1841, 
moved  three  constitutional  amendments.  Henceforth 
a  majority  vote  was  to  be  enough  to  pass  a  bill  over  the 
veto ;  henceforth  the  Treasurer  and  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  were  to  be  appointed  by  Congress,  and  no 
congressman  given  any  office  during  the  term  for 
which  he  had  been  elected.  Clay  defended  his  amend 
ments  with  all  the  eloquence  and  skill  of  which  he  was 
master.  Calhoun  attacked  them  with  more  than  com 
mon  zeal,  and  the  Senate  laid  them  on  the  table.  But 
the  end  was  not  yet.  The  last  reduction  provided  by 
the  compromise  tariff  was  to  take  place  June  thirtieth, 
1842.  The  Whigs  passed  a  bill  suspending  this  reduc 
tion  till  August  first,  1842,  and  Tyler  sent  it  back  with 
his  "I  forbid."  Unable  to  override  the  veto,  the 
Whigs  passed  a  new  tariff  act,  and  this  also  Tyler  sent 
back  with  his  "  I  forbid." 

The  House  took  up  the  message  which  accompanied 
this  veto — the  "  ditto  veto,"  as  it  was  nicknamed  by  the 
Whigs — and  sent  it  to  a  Committee  of  Thirteen.  John 
Quincy  Adams  was  the  chairman,  and  wrote  a  report 
which  ended  with  another  call  for  the  constitutional 
amendment  proposed  by  Clay,  for  a  limitation  of  the 
veto.  The  report  accomplished  nothing ;  but  the  ques 
tion  at  issue  was  by  no  means  dead,  and  appeared  in 
both  the  Whig  and  Democratic  platforms  of  1844. 

The  custom  of  laying  constitutional  "  planks "  in  a 
party  platform  was  brought  in  by  the  National  Repub- 


214  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

licans  in  1832.  Those  were  the  days  when  nullification 
was  rife,  when  the  Supreme  Court  was  defied,  when 
the  outlay  of  public  money  on  internal  improvements 
was  still  thought  unconstitutional.  But  such  was  not 
Republican  doctrine;  and  in  their  platform,  the  first 
ever  framed  by  a  national  convention,  they  boldly  de 
clared  for  internal  improvements,  and  pronounced  the 
Supreme  Court  the  only  tribunal  for  deciding  all  ques 
tions  arising  under  the  Constitution  and  the  laws. 

As  this  was  the  first,  so  for  eight  years  it  was  the 
last  party  platform.  Then,  in  the  campaign  of  1840, 
the  Democrats  imitated  the  Republicans  of  1832,  framed 
their  first  party  platform  and  in  it  laid  down  the  party 
views  on  the  Constitution.  The  Federal  Government 
was  declared  to  be  one  of  limited  powers.  These  pow 
ers  were  derived  solely  from  the  Constitution  and  were 
to  be  construed  strictly.  Such  a  construction  gave  to 
Congress  no  power  to  make  internal  improvements,  to 
assume  State  debts,  to  charter  a  bank,  nor  to  meddle 
with  the  domestic  institutions  of  the  States.  In  these 
principles  neither  time  nor  experience  wrought  any 
changes,  and  for  twenty  years  they  were  regularly  re 
affirmed  by  every  Democratic  convention.  Four  years 
later  the  men  who  nominated  Clay  drew  up  three  reso 
lutions,  which  must  be  considered  as  the  first  Whig 
platform,  and  in  them  demanded  one  term  for  the 
President  and  a  reform  of  executive  usurpations,  which 
every  true  Whig  understood  to  mean  the  constitutional 
amendments  supported  by  John  Quincy  Adams  and 
Henry  Clay. 

But  the  election  was  contested  on  very  different 
grounds.  It  was  under  the  cries  of  "  The  reannexation 
of  Texas  and  the  reoccupation  of  Oregon,"  "  The  whole 


CENTURY  OF  CONSTITUTIONAL  INTERPRETATION.  215 

of  Oregon,  or  none,"  "  Fifty-four  forty  or  fight,"  that 
the  Democrats  entered  the  campaign.  It  was  under 
such  cries  as  "  Texas  or  disunion,"  "  Give  us  Texas  or 
divide  the  spoons,"  that  they  won  it.  The  treaty  of 
annexation  had  failed  in  the  Senate  on  constitutional 
grounds.  Some  denied  the  right  to  acquire  foreign 
soil  in  any  manner.  Some  objected  to  annexing  it  by 
treaty :  to  remove  their  scruples  annexation  by  joint 
rule  was  proposed,  only  to  be  resisted  by  those  who 
claimed  that  annexation  by  treaty  was  the  only  consti 
tutional  method  of  procedure.  A  compromise  followed, 
and  Tyler  was  left  to  submit  to  Texas  the  joint  rule  or 
open  negotiations  for  a  new  treaty,  as  he  saw  fit.  He 
submitted  the  joint  rule  and  gave  the  country  Texas. 
Then  came  the  war.  The  war  gave  us  new  territory ; 
the  new  territory  had  to  be  governed,  and  the  attempt 
to  set  up  territorial  governments  in  California,  ISTew 
Mexico,  and  Utah  brought  up  the  question  whether 
those  governments  should  be  slave  or  free. 

On  the  one  hand  were  the  Free-soilers,  holding  two 
definite  theories  of  the  status  of  slavery  under  the  Con 
stitution.  Slavery  in  the  State  was,  they  held,  a  purely 
domestic  institution.  State  laws  created  it.  State  laws 
protected  it,  and  these  laws  the  Federal  Government 
could  not  repeal.  For  slavery  in  the  States,  therefore, 
the  Federal  Government  was  not  to  blame.  But  for 
the  existence  of  slavery  in  the  Territories  the  Federal 
Government  was  to  blame ;  for  over  the  Territories  the 
States  had  no  authority  and  the  Congress  all  author 
ity.  But  the  Constitution  expressly  denied  to  Congress 
power  to  deprive  any  man  of  life,  liberty,  or  property 
without  due  process  of  law.  Congress  had,  therefore, 
no  more  power  to  make  a  slave  than  to  make  a  king ; 
15 


216  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

no  more  power  to  set  up  slavery  than  to  set  up  mon 
archy.  The  Congress  must  prohibit  slavery  in  the  Ter 
ritories,  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  wherever  else 
its  authority  was  supreme. 

On  the  other  hand  were  the  Democrats,  resisting 
the  "Wilmot  proviso,  resisting  the  exclusion  of  slavery 
from  the  Territories ;  demanding  the  fulfilment  by  the 
North  of  the  constitutional  obligation  to  return  fugitive 
slaves ;  asserting  the  doctrines  of  popular  sovereignty 
and  non-interference,  and  threatening  disunion  if  every 
demand  were  not  conceded.  Non-interference  meant 
the  constitutional  right  of  every  slave-holder  to  take  his 
slaves  to  any  State  or  any  Territory  and  be  secure  in 
their  possession,  and  the  constitutional  duty  of  Congress 
to  do  nothing  tending  directly  or  indirectly  to  hurt 
slavery  even  "  in  its  incipient  stages."  Popular  sover 
eignty  meant  the  right  of  the  people  in  a  Territory  to 
determine  for  themselves  when  they  framed  their  State 
Constitution  whether  they  would  or  would  not  have 
slavery. 

By  1850  these  two  doctrines  had  become  so  well 
defined  that  an  attempt  was  made  to  fasten  them  on 
the  Constitution.  -  One  amendment  proposed  that  the 
Constitution  should  never  be  amended  so  as  to  abolish 
slavery  without  consent  of  each  State  in  which  slavery 
existed.  By  another  resolution  the  Committee  on  the 
Judiciary  were  to  frame  an  amendment  setting  forth 
that  the  people  of  each  separate  community,  whether 
they  do  or  do  not  reside  in  the  Territories,  have  a  right 
to  make  their  own  domestic  laws  and  to  establish  their 
own  domestic  government. 

Again  the  proposed  amendments  were  thrown  aside ; 
but  the  doctrine  of  popular  sovereignty  triumphed.  By 


CENTURY  OF  CONSTITUTIONAL  INTERPRETATION.  217 

the  compromise  of  1850  it  was  applied  in  the  organiza 
tion  of  Utah  and  New  Mexico,  and  in  them  slavery 
was  established.  By  the  act  of  May  twenty-second, 
1854,  it  was  again  applied  in  the  organization  of  Kansas 
and  Nebraska,  and  in  Kansas  slavery  was  desperately 
resisted.  When  that  dreadful  war  was  over,  Clay  was 
dead;  "Webster  was  dead;  the  old  Whig  party  was 
dead ;  the  Free-soil  party  had  given  place  to  the  Re 
publican  party ;  the  Dred  Scott  decision  had  been  made, 
and  the  Democratic  party  was  rent  into  two  sectional 
factions,  holding  two  very  different  views  on  "  sover 
eignty."  The  Southern  wing,  led  by  Breckinridge  and 
Lane,  still  held  to  the  old  form  of  "popular  sover 
eignty,"  and  still  declared  that  when  the  settlers  in  a 
Territory,  having  an  adequate  population,  form  a  State 
Constitution,  the  right  of  sovereignty  begins  ;  that  they 
then  have  the  right  to  recognize  or  prohibit  slavery,  as 
they  see  fit,  and  must  then  be  admitted  as  a  State  with 
their  Constitution  free  or  pro-slavery,  as  they  wish; 
still  held  that  the  government  of  a  Territory  is  provi 
sional  and  temporary,  and  that  while  it  lasts  all  citizens 
of  the  United  States  have  equal  rights  to  settle  in  the 
Territories  without  their  rights  or  property  being  im 
paired  by  congressional  action.  The  Northern  wing, 
led  by  Douglas,  proclaimed  the  doctrine  of  "  squatter 
sovereignty,"  the  right  of  the  people  while  still  in  the 
territorial  condition  to  determine  through  their  terri 
torial  legislatures  whether  they  would  or  would  not 
have  slavery. 

The  Republicans,  on  the  other  hand,  asserted  the 
normal  condition  of  the  Territories  to  be  that  of  free 
dom,  and  denied  the  authority  of  Congress,  of  the  ter 
ritorial  legislatures,  of  territorial  constitutional  conven- 


218  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

tions,  and  of  any  individual  to  give  legal  existence  to 
slavery  in  the  Territories.  In  1860  this  doctrine  tri 
umphed,  and  the  Southern  States  at  once  began  to 
carry  out  the  threats  so  often  made,  and  one  by  one 
seceded. 

Then  came  up  for  final  settlement  two  questions, 
many  times  discussed  in  vague  or  general  language : 
May  a  State  secede  ?  May  the  Federal  Government 
coerce  ?  The  answer  of  Buchanan  to  these  questions  is 
given  in  his  message  to  Congress  in  December,  1860. 
He  admitted,  as  all  men  must  admit,  that  revolution  is 
a  "  rightful  remedy  "  for  tyranny  and  oppression.  He 
denied  that  secession  was  a  constitutional  remedy  for 
anything.  But  he  asserted  that  the  Constitution  gave 
no  power  to  coerce  a  State  when  it  claimed  to  have 
seceded.  He  admitted  that  the  Constitution  did  give 
the  power  to  enforce  the  laws  of  the  Union  on  the  peo 
ple  of  a  so-called  seceded  State ;  but  he  asserted  that  he 
was  powerless  to  do  so  because  he  could  not  comply 
with  the  terms  of  the  law  of  1795,  which  provided  for 
putting  that  power  into  effect.  Having  laid  down  these 
principles,  he  fell  back  on  the  old  remedy  and  urged  an 
"  explanatory  constitutional  amendment."  This  amend 
ment  was  to  declare,  not  that  secession  was  unconstitu 
tional,  not  that  the  General  Government  might  coerce, 
but  that  the  right  of  property  in  slaves  was  recognized 
in  every  State  where  it  then  existed  or  might  exist ; 
that  this  right  should  be  protected  in  the  Territories  so 
long  as  they  remained  Territories ;  and  that  all  State 
laws  hindering  the  return  of  fugitive  slaves  were  un 
constitutional,  null,  and  void. 

The  hint  was  taken,  and  men  of  all  parties  made 
haste  to  lay  before  Congress  a  vast  mass  of  propositions 


CENTURY  OF  CONSTITUTIONAL  INTERPRETATION.  219 

and  amendments.  One  was  for  urging  the  States  to 
call  a  constitutional  convention.  Jefferson  Davis  was 
for  declaring  by  amendment  that  property  in  slaves 
stood  upon  the  same  footing  as  other  kinds  of  property 
and  should  never  be  impaired  by  act  of  Congress. 
Andrew  Johnson  had  a  long  list  of  six  more.  Mr. 
Crittenden,  a  senator  from  Kentucky,  offered  seven. 
From  the  House  Committee  on  the  State  of  the  Union 
came  seven.  From  the  Peace  Conference  came  seven. 
All  were  compromises.  The  slave  States  had  com 
plained  that  they  were  not  given  equal  rights  in  the 
Territories.  They  were  now  given  rights ;  and  the 
public  domain  was  parted  by  the  old  Missouri  Compro 
mise  line  of  36°  30'.  In  the  Territories  north  of  the 
line  there  was  to  be  no  slavery  ;  in  the  Territories  south 
of  the  line  slavery  was  to  be  protected.  The  slave  States 
had  demanded  "  popular  sovereignty."  They  were  now 
given  popular  sovereignty,  and  the  Territories  both 
north  and  south  of  36°  30'  were  to  be  suffered,  when 
they  formed  State  constitutions,  to  set  up  or  prohibit 
slavery.  The  free  States  had  complained  of  the  acquisi 
tion  of  territory  for  the  purpose  of  spreading  slavery. 
The  Federal  Government  was  now  forbidden  to  acquire 
any  territory  in  any  way,  save  by  discovery,  without 
the  consent  of  a  majority  of  the  senators  from  the 
States  where  slavery  was  not  allowed  and  of  a  ma 
jority  of  the  senators  from  the  States  where  slavery 
was  allowed.  The  free  States  had  demanded  the 
abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia ;  but 
this  was  refused,  and  in  future  neither  the  Constitu 
tion  nor  any  amendment  was  to  be  so  construed  as  to 
give  Congress  power  to  meddle  with  slavery  in  the 
States,  nor  to  abolish  it  in  the  District  without  the 


220  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

consent  of  Maryland.  The  free  States  had  demanded 
that  the  slave-trade  between  the  States  be  stopped,  and 
this  was  granted.  The  slave  States  had  demanded  a 
better  enforcement  of  the  fugitive-slave  law :  this  too 
was  granted,  and  the  States  were  to  have  power  to  pass 
laws  to  enforce  the  delivery  of  fugitive  slaves  to  legal 
claimants.  All  these  amendments,  and  all  the  pro 
visions  of  the  Constitution  touching  slavery,  were  never 
to  be  changed  without  the  consent  of  each  State.  But 
the  day  for  compromise  was  gone.  Congress  would 
not  accept  them,  and  March  second,  1861,  sent  out  to 
the  States  a  short  amendment  in  their  stead,  providing 
that  Congress  should  never  abolish  nor  meddle  with 
slavery  in  the  States.  Maryland  and  Ohio  alone  ratified 
it.  The  war  made  it  useless,  and  in  February,  1864,  it 
was  recalled,  to  be  followed  in  February,  1865,  by  an 
amendment  which  the  States  did  accept  and  which 
abolished  slavery  in  the  United  States  forever.  Then 

began  the  days  of   reconstruction,  and  when  March 

«/ 

thirtieth,  1870,  came,  two  more  amendments  had  been 
added  to  the  Constitution. 

With  these  the  amending  stopped ;  but  the  rage  for 
amendment  went  on  burning  with  tenfold  fury.  State 
sovereignty  was  gone ;  Federal  sovereignty  was  estab 
lished.  The  national  Government,  not  the  State  Gov 
ernment,  was  now  looked  up  to  as  the  righter  of  wrongs, 
the  corrector  of  abuses,  the  preserver  of  morals ;  and  in 
dividuals,  societies,  sects,  made  haste  to  lay  their  griev 
ances  before  Congress  and  ask  to  have  them  removed  by 
constitutional  amendment.  The  change  which  the  war 
has  produced  in  this  respect  is  most  marked  and  curious. 
During  the  twenty-eight  years  which  have  passed  since 
1861,  three  hundred  and  seventy-seven  amendments 


CENTURY  OF  CONSTITUTIONAL  INTERPRETATION.  221 

have  been  offered.  Many  of  these,  it  is  true,  have  in 
one  form  or  another  tormented  Congress  for  ninety 
years ;  but  among  them  are  others  which  indicate  noth 
ing  so  plainly  as  the  belief  that  the  Government  is  now 
a  great  national  Government  and  that  its  duty  is  to 
provide  in  the  broadest  sense  for  "the  general  welfare  " 
of  the  people.  To  Congress,  therefore,  have  come  re 
peated  calls  for  constitutional  amendments,  forbidding 
special  legislation ;  forbidding  the  manufacture  and  sale 
of  spirituous  liquors ;  forbidding  bigamy  and  polygamy ; 
forbidding  the  repeal  of  the  pension  laws ;  giving  Con 
gress  power  to  pass  uniform  marriage  and  divorce  laws, 
and  power  to  limit  the  hours  of  labor ;  giving  women 
the  right  to  vote ;  giving  the  States  power  to  tax  cor 
porations;  and  for  amendments  abolishing  and  pro 
hibiting  the  convict-labor  system  and  acknowledging 
the  existence  of  a  God. 


A  CENTURY'S  STRUGGLE  FOR  SILVER. 

WHEN  the  articles  of  Confederation  went  into  force 
in  the  month  of  March,  1781,  the  Continental  Congress, 
for  the  first  time  in  its  existence,  was  given  power  to 
coin  money  and  regulate  the  value  thereof.  The  need 
of  such  regulation  was  great ;  for  there  was  at  that  day 
no  national  coinage ;  no  uniform  circulating  medium, 
no  legal  tender,  no  common  money  of  account.  In  the 
towns  and  cities  along  the  seaboard  the  currency  was 
composed  of  paper  bills  put  out  by  the  States  and  con 
fined  in  circulation  to  the  limits  of  the  States  wherein 
they  were  printed;  of  loan-office  certificates,  indents, 
and  continental  notes  issued  by  authority  of  Congress, 
and  passing  at  different  rates  of  discount  at  different 
places  ;  and,  to  some  extent,  of  specie  made  up  of  the 
coins  of  England,  France,  Portugal,  and  Spain. 

Back  from  the  seaboard,  and  especially  along  the 
frontier,  debts  were  generally  paid  in  produce  or  lum 
ber  ;  barter  was  the  chief  medium  of  exchange ;  and,  if 
any  standard  of  value  existed,  it  was  a  bushel  of  wheat 
or  a  gallon  of  whiskey ;  a  bundle  of  skins,  or  a  hun 
dred-weight  of  tobacco.  The  money  of  account  used 
by  the  Congress  was  the  Spanish  milled  dollar  and  its 
fractions.  The  money  of  account  used  by  the  States, 
the  merchants,  and  the  people  was  the  pound  and  its 

222 


A  CENTURY'S  STRUGGLE  FOR  SILVER.        223 

fractions.  But  neither  the  pound  nor  the  dollar  had  a 
common  value  the  country  over,  for  each  expressed  a 
very  different  value  in  New  England  and  in  New  York ; 
in  Pennsylvania  and  in  the  South.  To  make  matters 
worse,  not  a  doubloon  nor  a  moidore,  not  a  guinea  nor 
a  crown,  not  a  joe,  not  a  sixpence,  not  a  gold  or  silver 
coin  of  any  denomination  passed  current  by  tale ;  for 
all  had  been  so  clipped  or  plugged  that  no  one  would 
take  them  save  by  weight. 

To  cure  the  evils  produced  by  so  disordered  a  cur 
rency,  and  replace  it  gradually  by  a  national  and  uni 
form  circulating  medium,  was  no  easy  matter,  and  was 
not  accomplished  in  fifty  years.  The  work,  however, 
was  begun  in  1782  by  the  Continental  Congress  calling 
on  its  Superintendent  of  Finance  to  report  a  table  of 
rates  at  which  foreign  coins  should  be  received  at  the 
post-offices  and  the  Treasury,  for  as  Congress  could  not 
lay  a  tax  of  any  kind  no  Federal  custom-houses  existed. 
Robert  Morris  was  Secretary  of  Finance,  and,  instead 
of  merely  reporting  a  table  of  rates,  he  took  occasion  to 
lay  before  Congress  some  wholesome  advice  on  the  sub 
ject  of  a  national  currency.  He  told  it  that  credit  could 
not  be  established,  that  business  could  not  flourish,  that 
industrial  enterprises  could  not  be  securely  carried  on 
till  a  uniform  currency  existed  ;  that  what  was  wanted 
was  not  a  table  of  the  relative  values  of  foreign  coins, 
but  a  standard  of  our  own  by  which  in  future  to  esti 
mate  them ;  in  a  word,  a  national  coinage. 

Having  heard  the  report,  Congress  took  no  action. 
But  the  idea  was  not  abandoned,  and  by  1786  matters 
had  gone  so  far  that  a  unit  had  been  chosen,  the  names 
and  denomination  of  many  of  our  present  coins  selected, 
and  an  ordinance  passed  establishing  a  mint  and  regu- 


224:  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

lating  the  alloy  of  coin.  The  ordinance,  however,  was 
never  put  into  force.  The  balance  of  trade  was  heavily 
against  the  States.  To  settle  this  balance  the  foreign 
coins  were  gathered  up  and  shipped  to  London,  and  the 
people,  stripped  of  every  kind  of  circulating  medium, 
forced  a  majority  of  the  States  to  again  put  forth  paper 
money,  and  brought  on  that  dreadful  era  of  force  acts 
and  tender  laws,  depreciated  paper  and  token  money, 
which  marked  the  closing  years  of  the  Confederation. 
Abandoning  all  attempts,  under  these  circumstances,  to 
coin  the  precious  metals,  the  Board  of  Treasury,  acting 
under  an  ordinance  of  Congress,  contracted  for  the 
manufacture  of  a  few  copper  cents,  which,  bearing  date 
1787,  are  now  to  be  found  in  the  cabinets  of  collectors 
under  the  name  of  "  Fugios." 

With  the  establishment  of  government  under  the 
Constitution,  Congress  once  more  returned  to  the  sub 
ject  of  a  national  coinage,  and  in  1791,  after  listening 
to  the  famous  report  of  Hamilton,  ordered  that  a  mint 
be  established,  and  that  Washington  secure  such  artists 
and  such  machines  as  might  be  necessary.  One  year 
later  another  act  specified  the  officers  of  the  mint, 
established  the  unit,  fixed  the  standard  of  fineness,  and 
named  the  coins  that  were  to  be  struck.  Gold,  silver, 
and  copper,  the  law  provided,  were  to  be  coined  with 
out  charge  for  all  comers  in  the  order  of  their  arrival ; 
the  gold  into  eagles,  half -eagles,  and  quarter-eagles ;  the 
silver  into  dollars,  half  dollars,  quarter  dollars,  dimes, 
and  half  dimes  ;  the  copper  into  cents  and  half  cents. 

Having  thus  provided  for  a  bimetallic  currency,  the 
law  further  ordered  that  the  ratio  between  the  two 
metals  should  be  fifteen  to  one,  or  that  fifteen  pounds 
weight  of  pure  silver  should  have  the  same  legal  value 


A  CENTURY'S  STRUGGLE  FOR  SILVER.         225 

as  one  pound  of  pure  gold.  The  unit  was  the  silver 
dollar,  and  into  it  were  to  go  371J  grains  of  pure,  or 
416  grains  of  standard  silver. 

Though  the  law  was  passed  in  April,  such  haste  was 
made  to  carry  it  out  that  by  October  a  site  had  been 
procured  in  Philadelphia,  a  mint  (the  first  public  build 
ing  erected  by  the  Federal  Government)  had  been  put 
up,  and  the  coinage  of  silver  half  dimes  had  begun. 
Some  cents  and  half  cents  were  struck  in  1793 ;  but 
the  serious  work  of  coinage  did  not  begin  till  October, 
1794.  The  Treasury  having  no  authority  to  purchase 
bullion,  the  mint  was  forced  to  depend  on  individuals 
and  the  Treasury  for  a  supply  of  bullion  or  foreign 
coins.  This  supply  proved  trivial  and  irregular.  As 
neither  gold  nor  silver  was  mined  in  the  country,  no 
private  interest  existed  eager  to  avail  itself  of  the  free 
coinage  offered  by  the  mint.  As  foreign  coin  still  cir 
culated  freely  from  hand  to  hand,  and  were  still  a  legal 
tender  for  Government  dues,  merchants  were  under  no 
inducement  to  turn  them  in  for  recoinage.  The  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury,  it  is  true,  was  in  duty  bound  to 
send  every  piece  of  foreign  coin  received  on  payment 
of  dues  to  the  mint  to  be  recoined  before  it  again 
passed  into  circulation.  But  each  succeeding  Secretary 
so  flatly  refused  to  obey  the  law  that  ten  years  after 
the  establishment  of  the  mint  not  a  dollar  had  been 
coined  on  account  of  the  Government. 

The  chief  supplies  were  the  banks.  Indeed,  it  was 
from  one  of  them — the  Bank  of  Maryland — that  the 
first  deposit  of  silver  was  received  in  July,  1794.  It 
consisted  of  French  coin  worth  $80,715,  and  from  the 
same  dollars  and  half  dollars  were  struck  and  returned 
to  the  Treasury  in  October.  In  coining  them  the  direc- 


226  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

tor  deliberately  and  wilfully  disobeyed  the  law.  Be 
lieving  that  the  prescribed  standard  wonld  debase  the 
coin  and  cause  it  to  turn  black  when  used,  he  had  rec 
ommended  that  a  change  be  made,  and  that  for  every 
nine  parts  pure  silver  there  should  be  one  part  alloy. 
Confident  "that  his  recommendation  would  be  approved, 
he  had  ordered  the  dollars  to  be  made  in  accordance 
with  the  new  standard,  and  was  not  a  little  chagrined 
when,  a  year  later,  Congress  having  given  no  heed  to 
his  suggestion,  he  was  forced  to  coin  according  to  the 
old  law.  Meantime  every  depositor  whose  silver  had 
been  used  had  suffered  a  loss.  Each  did,  it  is  true,  re 
ceive  back  all  his  silver ;  but  he  received  less  dollars 
than  he  was  legally  entitled  to.  One  such  sufferer  ap 
plied  to  Congress  for  relief ;  but  his  claim  was  disal 
lowed.  When  the  first  silver  coin  was  delivered  at  the 
Treasury  in  1794,  the  President,  as  the  law  required, 
issued  his  proclamation,  declaring  that  on  the  fifteenth 
day  of  October,  1797,  all  silver  coins  of  foreign  mints, 
the  Spanish  milled  dollar  alone  excepted,  should  cease 
to  be  legal  tender.  Some  half -eagles  made  from  gold 
bullion,  deposited  by  a  Boston  merchant,  having  been 
sent  to  the  Treasury  in  July,  1795,  a  like  proclamation 
was  issued  concerning  foreign  gold  coin,  and  the  day 
seemed  near  when  the  people  of  the  United  States 
would  have  a  national  coinage  of  their  own. 

But  when  the  prescribed  time  expired,  eagles  and 
dollars,  dimes  and  half  dimes,  were  almost  as  scarce  as 
if  no  mint  existed.  The  reason  is  plain.  The  Adminis 
tration  was  trying  to  do  what  no  power  has  ever  yet 
succeeded  in  doing — it  was  trying  to  put  in  circulation, 
side  by  side,  a  sound  and  an  unsound  currency.  The 
foreign  coins — old,  worn,  clipped,  and  light  of  weight — 


A  CENTURY'S  STRUGGLE  FOR  SILVER.         227 

drove  out  the  new  American  dollars  and  eagles,  which, 
sound  and  of  full  weight,  were  of  far  more  value  as  a 
commodity  in  foreign  markets  than  as  a  circulating 
medium  at  home.  They  were  therefore  exported  in 
such  numbers  that  enough  could  not  be  had  to  pay  the 
dues  of  j  merchants  at  the  Custom-House,  and  in  1798 
the  law  was  suspended,  and  foreign  coins  remained  a 
legal  tender  till  1802.  But  the  exportation  of  our  coin 
still  went  on,  and  when  1802  came  the  country  was  as 
far  as  ever  from  enjoying  a  metallic  currency  of  its 
own.  Popular  sentiment  meantime  turned  strongly 
against  the  mint.  It  was  denounced  as  another  of  the 
many  costly  and  useless  pieces  of  political  machinery 
saddled  on  the  people  by  the  Federalist  party.  "  This 
mint,"  it  was  said  in  1800,  "has  been  seven  years  in 
existence,  yet  the  entire  output  of  coins,  gold,  silver, 
and  copper,  is  short  of  $2,600,000,  while  the  cost  of 
making  them  has  exceeded  $200,000.  To  coin  ten 
dollars  entails  an  outlay  of  one  dollar,  and  when  the 
ten  are  coined  half  of  them  are  instantly  gathered  up 
and  shipped  to  London  as  bullion.  For  the  few  pieces 
which  remain  locked  up  in  the  vaults  of  banks  we  pay, 
accordingly,  twenty  per  cent  of  their  value  for  the 
privilege  of  trying  to  have  a  national  coinage.  The 
game  is  not  worth  the  candle.  The  burden  is  too 
great  to  be  borne."  In  the  House  of  ^Representatives 
the  popular  feeling  was  so  strongly  reflected  that  in 
1800  a  committee  reported  in  favor  of  abolishing  the 
mint,  and  in  1802  a  bill  was  passed  closing  it.  To  this, 
however,  the  Senate  would  not  agree,  and  for  twenty- 
six  years  the  mint  was  continued  by  a  long  series  of 
acts  running  from  one  to  five  years.  Not  till  1828  was 
it  permanently  established. 


228  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

That  the  evils  of  an  unsound  currency  and  the  ab 
sence  of  a  national  coinage  was  so  little  felt  in  the 
time  of  Jefferson  is  to  be  ascribed  to  the  credit  cur 
rency  supplied  by  the  banks  then  rapidly  springing  up 
all  over  the  country.  Each  gave  to  the  people  of  its 
neighborhood  a  paper  currency  which  was  in  no  danger 
of  exportation,  which  passed  readily  from  hand  to  hand, 
and  was  far  more  portable  than  specie,  while  the  Bank 
of  the  United  States  furnished  what  came  very  near  to 
being  a  uniform  circulating  medium.  With  branches 
in  every  important  city  in  the  country  ready  to  redeem 
its  notes  in  specie  ;  with  every  tax  collector,  every  cus 
toms  collector  ready  to  take  them  in  payment  of 
Government  dues,  the  five  millions  of  bills  the  bank 
put  out  were  accepted  in  all  parts  of  the  country  as 
readily  as  the  national  bank  notes  of  the  present  day. 
But  when,  in  1811,  Congress  refused  to  recharter  the 
bank,  scores  of  State  institutions  sprang  up  to  take  its 
place.  The  country  was  flooded  with  paper  money  far 
exceeding  in  amount  the  specie  in  the  country.  Re 
demption  was  not  possible,  and  in  the  troubled  days  of 
the  war  every  bank  along  the  seaboard,  out  of  New 
England,  from  Albany  to  Savannah  suspended  specie 
payments.  Exchange  was  destroyed.  The  Federal 
Treasury,  unable  to  move  its  money  from  the  place  of 
collection  to  the  place  of  expenditure,  was  reduced  to 
bankruptcy,  and  the  days  of  barter  and  token  money 
returned.  Firmly  convinced  that  a  credit  currency 
which  neither  rested  on  nor  was  redeemable  in  specie 
was  worse  than  none,  the  people  cried  out  for  a  national 
bank,  and  in  1816  the  second  Bank  of  the  United  States 
was  chartered  for  the  sole  purpose  of  "  regulating  the 
currency."  But  specie  must  be  had  on  which  to  rest 


A  CENTURY'S  STRUGGLE  FOR  SILVER.         229 

its  paper,  and  to  bring  back  specie  certain  foreign  coins 
were,  in  1816,  once  more  made  legal  tender,  and  re 
mained  so — the  gold  till  1819,  the  silver  till  1827. 

Food  distress  in  Europe  changed  the  balance  of 
trade  in  favor  of  the  United  States,  specie  came  back 
in  great  quantity,  and  some  relief  was  given  to  the 
banks  and  the  Treasury.  But  the  people  gained  noth 
ing,  for  the  dearth  of  small  change  went  on.  Without 
the  slightest  authority  by  law  the  director  of  the  mint 
had  coined  no  silver  dollars  since  1804,  no  quarter  dol 
lars  since  1808,  and  no  dimes  since  1810  save  a  few  in 
1811  and  1814,  and  no  half  dimes  since  1806.  Two  dollar 
bank  bills  torn  in  two  and  four  pieces,  tickets  of  1,  2,  3, 
6J,  10,  12J,  18f ,  25,  3T£  and  50  cents  in  value  and  is 
sued  by  individuals,  by  stage  companies,  by  mayors  of 
cities,  by  corporations  of  every  sort,  constituted  the 
money  with  which  the  people  transacted  the  business  of 
the  market-place  and  the  shop.  To  make  matters  worse, 
the  Bank  of  England  in  1819  resumed  specie  payments 
after  a  suspension  of  twenty-six  years,  and  the  tide  of 
specie  again  turned  strongly  toward  London.  First  went 
our  gold  pieces,  which  were  so  undervalued  that  $4.56 
in  coin  contained  as  much  gold  as  an  English  sovereign. 
Next  went  our  silver,  driven  out  by  the  debased  and 
worn  products  of  the  French  and  Spanish  mints.  Gold 
now  disappeared  not  only  from  sight,  but  from  the 
vaults  of  the  banks,  and  from  1819  to  1834  the  circu 
lating  medium  of  our  country  became  a  credit  cur 
rency  based  on  foreign  coins.  The  mint,  indeed,  con 
tinued  year  by  year  to  turn  out  its  coin,  and  during 
these  years  $25,000,000  in  round  numbers  in  silver 
and  $4,500,000  in  gold  pieces  were  struck.  But  nine 
tenths  of  them  were  sent  away  or  melted  into  bullion. 


230  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

This  state  of  affairs  called  forth  much  discussion, 
many  reports,  many  plans  of  relief,  but  no  legislation. 
At  one  time  the  House  of  Eepresentatives  thought 
seriously  of  prohibiting  the  exportation  of  specie.  At 
another  it  was  proposed  to  cut  down  the  weight  of 
the  monetary  unit  and  make  American  coin  worth 
more  for  use  at  home  than  for  shipment  abroad.  Ses 
sion  after  session,  however,  went  by  and  nothing  was 
done  till  1834.  The  promoters  of  a  new  industry 
then  came  forward  and  turned  discussion  into  action. 
The  United  States  had  become  a  gold-producing  coun 
try,  and  though  the  amount  mined  (about  $678,000  in 
1832  and  $868,000  in  1833)  seems  small  in  these  days, 
it  was  enough  to  call  for  legislation.  Such  a  yield,  it 
was  feared,  would  lower  the  price.  To  keep  up  the 
price  a  market  must  be  found,  and  this  market  it  was 
the  duty  of  the  Federal  Government  to  provide  by 
putting  gold  coin  into  circulation.  The  time  was  most 
favorable.  The  long  struggle  waged  by  Jackson  with 
the  Bank  of  the  United  States  was  practically  over, 
for  his  triumphant  re-election  in  1832  made  the  end  of 
the  bank  certain. 

Millions  of  dollars  in  bills  which  for  twenty  years 
had  been  the  real  circulating  medium  of  the  country 
were  soon  to  be  called  in.  The  place  of  this  paper 
must  be  supplied,  and  over  the  kind  of  money  that 
should  replace  it  a  lively  contest  now  took  place. 
On  the  one  side  were  the  friends  of  the  State 
banks,  the  paper-money  men,  the  inflationists,  as 
they  would  be  called  in  our  day.  On  the  other 
side  were  the  enemies  of  the  old  bank,  the  friends 
of  Jackson,  the  hard-money  men,  the  advocates  of  a 
national  coinage,  the  producers  of  gold.  Led  on  by 


A  CENTURY'S  STRUGGLE  FOR  SILVER.         231 

Thomas  Benton,  they  won  and  placed  on  the  statute- 
book  the  Gold  Coin  Act  of  1834.  The  wish  and  pur 
pose  of  "  Old  Bullion,"  as  his  admirers  delighted  to 
call  him,  was  to  stop  the  importation  of  gold  coin ;  to 
restore  gold  and  silver  money  of  foreign  nations  to  its 
former  circulation  within  the  United  States;  and  to 
make  the  revenue  laws  of  the  United  States  instru 
mental  in  establishing  gold  and  silver  as  the  common 
currency  of  the  country.  The  law  of  1834  was  in 
tended  to  accomplish  the  first  of  these  ends,  and  to 
accomplish  it  by  reducing  the  weight  of  the  eagle,  half- 
eagle,  and  quarter-eagle,  and  so  raising  the  ratio  between 
gold  and  silver  to  1  to  16*002.  Just  what  this  act  was 
expected  to  do  was  well  expressed  by  the  Washington 
Globe,  the  organ  of  the  Administration.  "A  great 
stream  of  gold,"  said  the  Globe,  "  will  flow  up  the 
Mississippi  River  from  New  Orleans,  and  diffuse  itself 
all  over  the  great  West.  Nearly  all  the  gold  coinage 
of  the  New  World  will  come  to  the  United  States. 
This  will  fill  the  West  with  doubloons  and  half -joes, 
and  in  eight  or  nine  months  from  this  time  every 
substantial  citizen  will  have  a  long  silken  purse  with 
fine  open  network  through  the  interstices  of  which 
yellow  gold  will  shine  and  glisten.  Every  substantial 
man  and  every  substantial  man's  wife  and  daughter 
will  travel  on  gold."  Unhappily,  this  fond  expectation 
was  not  realized.  The  mint,  indeed,  went  hard  to  work 
and  in  six  years  turned  out  nearly  $18,000,000  of  what 
the  people  called  "  Benton  mint-drops,"  and  "  Jackson 
yellow-boys."  But  the  ratio  proved  a  false  one ;  silver 
had  been  underrated,  and  in  its  turn  took  flight.  Then 
began,  in  1840,  that  excess  of  exports  over  imports  of 
silver  which  from  that  day  to  this  has  never  been  inter- 
16 


232  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

rupted  save  in  1843,  in  1846,  and  in  1861.  When  the 
fifties  were  reached  matters  had  become  so  bad  that  it 
was  scarcely  possible  to  keep  the  fractional  silver  coins 
in  circulation.  Debased  as  they  were,  they  had  far 
more  value  as  bullion  than  as  change,  and  they,  too, 
left  us,  and  by  1853  silver  was  practically  demonetized 
by  the  working  of  the  law  of  1834  and  the  discovery 
of  gold  in  California. 

In  1853,  therefore,  came  the  second  great  change 
in  our  currency  laws,  by  which  the  weight  of  frac 
tional  coins  was  lessened  materially  and  their  free 
coinage  stopped.  Henceforth  halves  and  quarters, 
dimes  and  half  dimes  were  made  ,  solely  on  Govern 
ment  account  and  sold  for  gold  in  sums  of  $100. 
This  sufficed  for  twenty  years,  when  new  legislation 
became  necessary.  The  act  was  passed  in  1873,  when 
not  a  coin  had  been  in  circulation  for  eleven  years,  and 
was  rather,  a  codification  of  existing  laws  than  new 
legislation.  All  the  provisions  of  sixty-odd  acts  re 
lating  to  the  mint,  to  its  branches,  to  the  Assay  Office, 
to  the  coinage,  passed  since  1792  were  arranged,  classi 
fied,  simplified,  stripped  of  all  inconsistencies,  and  em 
bodied  in  one  statute.  As  to  the  coinage,  three  changes 
were  made.  The  bronze  two-cent  piece,  authorized  in 
1864  but  never  popular  ;  the  three-cent  silver  piece 
(not  the  three-cent  nickel),  authorized  in  1851  and  so 
little  known  that  few  persons  now  living  could  describe 
it  from  memory ;  the  half  dime  and  the  dollar,  were 
dropped  from  the  list  of  coins.  The  silver  dollar  may 
be  said  never  to  have  been  in  circulation.  From  the 
day  the  first  specimens  came  from  the  mint  the  dollars 
were  the  rarest  of  our  coins,  for  they  were  shipped  year 
after  year  to  London  and  to  the  West  Indies.  Finding 


A  CENTURY'S  STRUGGLE  FOR  SILVER.         233 

that  none  of  them  remained  at  home,  Jefferson  ordered 
that  no  more  should  be  struck,  and  in  March,  1804, 
their  coinage  ceased  for  thirty-five  years.*  In  1839 
they  began  to  be  made  again  ;  but  the  Gold  Coinage 
Act  of  1834  slowly  demonetized  silver ;  the  premium 
on  the  dollar  rose  to  $1.03  in  gold,  and  Congress,  see 
ing  that  the  mint  was  a  mere  machine  for  turning 
silver  into  a  convenient  form  for  exportation,  sanc 
tioned  the  request  that  the  coinage  of  dollars  be  dis 
continued.  At  the  same  time  a  great  innovation  was 
made,  and  a  new"  coin  ordered,  not  for  circulation,  but 
for  shipment. 

Want  of  a  mint  in  China  had  left  that  empire  de 
pendent  on  the  coins  of  foreign  nations,  and  of  such 
coins  none  found  so  ready  a  circulation  as  the  dollars 
of  Mexico  and  Spain.  It  was  in  such  pieces  that 
millions  and  millions  were  remitted  by  American 
merchants  engaged  in  the  China  trade,  a  purchase 
which  seemed  quite  unnecessary  now  that  the  mines 
of  Colorado  and  Nevada  were  producing  more  silver 
than  the  country  could  well  consume.  The  act  of 
1873,  therefore,  provided  that  any  owner  of  bullion 
might  deposit  it  at  any  mint  and,  after  paying  all 
charges,  receive  either  bars  or  "  trade  dollars  "  weigh 
ing  420  grains  troy.  By  a  piece  of  carelessness  on 
the  part  of  Congress  these  new  coins  were  made  a 
legal  tender  in  sums  not  greater  than  five  dollars. 
But  as  each  one  cost  much  more  than  a  dollar  to 
make,  none  were  used  as  money  in  our  country 
till  after  1876.  In  that  year  the  legal- tender  quality 


*  Three  hundred  and  twenty-one  were  numbered  in  1805  and 
1,000  in  1836. 


234  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

was  taken  away.  The  cost  of  manufacturing,  how 
ever,  was  then  less  than  a  dollar,  the  country  was 
about  to  return  to  specie  payments,  the  people  seemed 
willing  to  take  the  dollars  at  their  face  value,  and 
owners  of  mines  found  it  most  profitable  to  hurry 
their  silver  to  the  mint  to  be  turned  into  trade  dollars. 
Such  was  the  rush  that  in  1877  more  than  13,000,000 
of  them  were  struck.  This  was  twice  as  large  as  the 
output  of  any  previous  year,  and  would  undoubtedly 
have  been  greatly  surpassed  in  the  next  twelve  months 
had  not  the  act  of  February  twenty-eighth,  1878,  for 
bidden  further  coinage.  A  few  hundreds  were,  it  is 
true,  issued  each  year  till  1883,  when  35,965,924  trade 
dollars  had  gone  from  the  mint.  Four  fifths  of  them 
were  either  exported  or  used  in  the  arts.  One  fifth 
(7,689,036),  after  passing  about  as  token  money,  till  no 
postmaster  would  take  them  in  payment  of  stamps,  till 
no  bank  would  receive  them  on  deposit,  till  no  car 
conductor  would  accept  them  for  fares,  till  no  shop 
keeper  would  take  them  save  at  a  discount  of  ten  per 
cent,  they  were  at  last  rejected  by  the  people,  were 
purchased  by  syndicates  and  redeemed  by  the  Govern 
ment  in  1887  at  one  hundred  cents  on  the  dollar. 

The  five  years  during  which  the  trade-dollar  act 
remained  on  the  statute-books  were  years  full  of  the 
most  unforeseen  and  startling  events.  Abroad,  Ger 
many,  aided  by  the  payment  of  the  French  indemnity, 
changed  her  currency  from  silver  to  gold.  Nation 
after  nation  ceased  to  coin  silver,  and  even  in  India 
and  in  China  the  demand  for  it  fell  off.  At  home, 
meantime,  the  production  of  the  mines  went  on  steadily 
increasing,  doubling,  trebling,  quadrupling,  and  pulling 
down  the  market  value  from  $1.30  to  $1.12  an  ounce. 


A  CENTURY'S  STRUGGLE  FOR  SILVER.         235 

The  silver  States  cried  out  for  relief ;  Congress  re 
sponded,  and  by  the  same  act  which  stopped  the 
coinage  of  the  "  trade  "  dollar  provided  the  producers 
of  silver  with  a  market.  Under  the  new  law  the 
Secretary  was  commanded  to  buy  each  month  not  less 
than  two  nor  more  than  four  million  dollars'  worth  of 
silver  and  have  it  coined  into  standard  silver  dollars, 
to  be  a  legal  tender  for  any  amount.  Then  began  our 
silver  era  and  our  first  serious  struggle  for  bimetallism. 
Year  by  year  from  twenty-seven  to  thirty-eight  mill 
ions  of  "  cart-wheel  dollars  "  were  struck,  till  at  the 
close  of  twelve  years  more  than  350,000,000  had  been 
manufactured.  That  the  people  would  willingly  handle 
so  vast  a  quantity  of  so  heavy  and  clumsy  a  coin  was 
never  expected.  For  convenience,  therefore,  the  law 
provided  for  the  deposit  of  the  dollars  (when  made)  in 
the  vaults  of  the  Treasury,  and  the  issue  in  place  of 
them  of  silver  certificates  which  should  be  receivable 
for  customs,  taxes,  and  all  public  dues,  and  when  so  re 
ceived  might  be  reissued.  Under  the  workings  of  the 
law  some  60,000,000  of  the  silver  dollars  were  sent  out 
into  circulation.  Of  the  remainder,  a  part  is  held  for 
the  redemption  of  the  silver  certificates  which  now 
form  so  large  a  portion  of  the  paper  currency  in  the 
pockets  of  our  people,  while  a  part  lies  idle  in  the 
Treasury. 

Great  as  was  the  consumption  of  silver  in  this  way, 
it  still  proved  of  small  avail.  The  yield  of  the  mines 
went  on  increasing.  The  price  went  on  falling,  and  in 
1890  another  and  more  stringent  remedy  was  tried. 
By  the  act  of  July  fourteenth,  1890 — the  ever-famous 
"  Sherman  Act " — the  Secretary  is  compelled  to  buy 
each  month  4,500,000  ounces  of  silver,  or  so  much 


236  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

thereof  as  may  be  offered  at  less  than  $1.29  per  ounce, 
and  pay  for  it  in  Treasury  notes  to  be  redeemed  on 
demand  in  gold  or  silver  as  the  Secretary  shall  judge 
fit.  Notes  so  issued  are  legal  tender  at  their  face 
value  for  all  debts  public  and  private,  unless  otherwise 
expressly  stipulated  in  the  contract,  and,  when  re 
deemed,  may  be  again  reissued. 

The  present  year  completes  the  century  since  the 
mint  was  fairly  established  and  began  the  work  of 
making  coin.  A  review  of  that  century  makes  clear 
to  us  that  the  first  great  currency  question  with  which 
the  country  had  to  deal  was  whether  there  should  be  a 
national  coinage,  or  a  legalizing  and  rerating  of  the 
debased  foreign  coin  of  pre-revolutionary  days.  The 
chartering  of  the  Banks  of  the  United  States  and  the 
rise  of  State  banks  settled  this  question  and  gave  the 
country  a  paper  currency  based  on  foreign  coin.  The 
winding  up  of  the  second  United  States  Bank  and  be 
ginning  of  gold  mining  brought  up  in  1834  the  second 
great  currency  question,  which  was,  Shall  the  money 
of  the  country  be  hard  or  soft,  metallic  or  paper  ? 
The  Gold  Coin  Act  of  1834  was  the  attempt  to  settle 
this,  and  brought  on  the  first  bimetallic  discussion  ever 
held  in  Congress.  The  attempt  was  a  failure.  A  false 
ratio  and  the  unexpected  discovery  of  gold  in  Califor 
nia  demonetized  silver,  and  the  fractional  silver  coin 
act  of  1853  marked  the  second  effort  to  preserve  and 
remonetize  silver.  Once  more  the  effort  proved  vain 
and  the  acts  of  1873,  1878,  and  1890  followed. 


IS  SOUND  FINANCE  POSSIBLE  UNDER 
POPULAR  GOVERNMENT? 

WHENEVER  the  times  become  hard,  whenever  busi 
ness  is  depressed,  money  difficult  to  earn,  and  the 
country  brought  face  to  face  with  serious  financial 
troubles,  a  feeling  of  despondency  is  sure  to  set  in. 
Under  the  baleful  influences  of  such  periods  of  dis 
tress  as  that  through  which  we  are  now  passing  men 
of  sense  and  judgment  lose  faith  in  the  success  of 
Democratic  institutions  and  the  wisdom  of  majority 
rule.  It  is  easy  enough,  they  say,  for  the  great  mass 
of  our  fellow-citizens  to  form  a  fairly  correct  judgment 
on  a  question  of  pure  politics.  Even  if  they  fail  to 
form  a  correct  judgment,  even  if  they  do  adopt  wrong 
standards,  pursue  wrong  methods,  and  put  bad  men  in 
power,  it  is  still  possible  for  the  community  to  be  pros 
perous  and  happy,  though  misgoverned.  But  when  the 
question  to  be  dealt  with  is  so  intricate  and  complex 
as  to  be  beyond  the  comprehension  of  the  great  mass 
of  men,  is  it  safe  to  leave  it  to  be  decided  by  majority 
rule  ?  In  the  light  of  our  past  history  the  answer  is, 
Yes. 

Of  all  the  people  of  the  earth  we  are  the  most  prac 
tical  and  the  least  theoretical.  Experience,  not  theory, 
has  ever  been  our  guide.  Nowhere  else  do  theories  of 

237 


238  WITH   THE  FATHERS. 

finance,  theories  of  political  economy,  of  government, 
of  social  organization,  count  for  so  little.  Nowhere 
else  does  that  wisdom  gained  by  daily  contact  with  the 
affairs  of  life  count  for  so  much.  The  very  Constitu 
tion  under  which  we  live  is  a  signal  illustration  of  this. 
It  was  quite  as  much  a  business  as  a  political  necessity, 
and  bears  all  over  it  the  marks  of  a  bitter  experience. 
The  dreadful  state  of  trade,  foreign  and  interstate,  the 
disorders  of  the  currency,  the  lack  of  a  uniform  circu 
lating  medium,  the  hopelessness  of  trying  to  support  a 
Government  which  could  not  tax— these  were  the  con 
siderations  which  outweighed  all  others  and  moved  our 
ancestors  to  frame  and  adopt  the  Constitution.  Any 
student  of  politics  could  have  told  them,  and  many 
did,  that  it  was  idle  to  expect  that  thirteen  petty  re 
publics  could  regulate  a  common  foreign  trade  as  suc 
cessfully  as  one  central  government.  But  not  till  the 
experiment  had  been  made  and  failed  were  the  people 
ready  to  bestow  on  Congress  sole  power  to  regulate 
trade  with  foreign  countries,  between  the  States,  and 
with  the  Indians.  Any  student  of  finance  could  have 
told  them  that  thirteen  kinds  of  paper  money  issued 
on  no  security  and  maintained  by  tender  laws  and  force 
acts  could  never  become  the  circulating  medium  of  a 
great  people.  But  not  until  they  had  tried  it,  not  un 
til  they  had  brought  themselves  to  the  brink  of  ruin 
by  the  experiment,  were  our  ancestors  willing  to  de 
clare  that  no  State  shall  coin  money,  emit  bills  of  credit, 
or  make  anything  but  gold  and  silver  coin  a  tender  in 
payment  of  debts. 

The  financial  crisis  which  extorted  these  concessions 
from  the  people  of  the  several  States  was  the  worst  this 
country  ever  went  through,  and  it  was  fully  believed 


IS  SOUND  FINANCE  POSSIBLE.  239 

that  the  like  of  it  would  never  return.  By  the  words 
"  bills  of  credit "  was  meant  what  we  now  call  paper 
money,  and,  under  the  injunction  that  neither  Con 
gress  nor  the  States  should  issue  them,  it  seemed  cer 
tain  that  the  days  of  fiat  money  were  over  in  the  United 
States.  That  the  States  in  time  would  find  an  instru 
ment  and  authorize  it  to  do  what  they  could  not  legally 
do  themselves  was  not  thought  possible,  for  State  bank 
ing  had  but  just  begun.  On  the  day  the  Constitution 
became  the  supreme  law  of  the  land  there  were  but 
three  banks  in  the  entire  country.  But,  fostered  and 
cherished  by  the  amazing  prosperity  which  sprang  up 
under  the  new  Government,  they  increased  and  multi 
plied  and  spread  over  the  States  till,  when  1812  came, 
two  hundred  and  eight  State  banks  were  doing  busi 
ness.  Each  had  power  to  issue  notes  to  the  amount 
of  three  times  its  capital,  and  each  exceeded  its  power. 
Even  in  the  East  the  circulating  medium  was  not  specie, 
but  paper,  for  without  it  the  needs  of  trade  could  not 
have  been  met.  A  mania  for  banks  swept  over  the 
country,  and  the  days  of  paper  money,  of  bills  of  credit, 
returned  again.  The  behavior  of  the  people  during 
this  time  is  most  instructive,  and  to  those  who  put  not 
their  trust  in  the  people  it  ought  to  be  most  consoling, 
if  not  convincing.  Affairs  on  the  seaboard  were  bad 
enough ;  but  it  was  in  the  wild  West  of  those  days 
that  the  crisis  was  severest  and  the  remedies  applied 
most  radical. 

The  dull  times  which  followed  the  opening  of  our 
second  struggle  with  Great  Britain,  and,  above  all,  the 
hard  times  which  came  after  the  close  of  the  war,  were 
the  immediate  causes  of  an  immense  immigration  from 
the  seaboard  to  the  Mississippi  Valley.  That  the  arrival 


240  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

of  these  new-comers  should  be  attended  by  speculation 
in  land,  in  town  sites,  in  everything  of  which  they  stood 
in  need,  was  inevitable.  But  they  came  just  at  the 
time  when  the  West  was  passing  through  a  commercial 
revolution.  The  steamboat  had  appeared  on  the  Mis 
sissippi  and  the  Ohio,  and  no  event  in  modern  times 
has  surpassed  that  in  importance.  The  West,  in  the 
opinion  of  its  people,  was  no  longer  dependent  for  its 
supply  of  foreign  goods  on  Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  and 
New  York.  New  Orleans  was  to  be  the  great  port  of 
entry.  To  it  were  to  come  all  the  products  of  the 
West  Indies,  all  the  manufactures  of  Europe,  the  cot 
ton  fabrics,  the  woollen  cloth,  the  hardware,  the  crock 
ery — everything  which  for  a  generation  past  had  been 
carried  at  great  cost  over  the  mountains — and  once  at 
New  Orleans,  they  were  to  be  transported  by  steam 
boat  to  St.  Louis,  to  Louisville,  to  Cincinnati,  and  even 
to  Pittsburg.  The  prospect  of  sudden  commercial  de 
velopment,  joined  to  the  arrival  of  hundreds  of  thou 
sands  of  new  settlers,  brought  on  an  era  of  the  wild 
est  speculation,  in  which  the  whole  community  was 
eager  to  join.  One  great  obstacle  barred  the  way : 
money  was  scarce.  The  new-comers  brought  none. 
The  old  settlers  had  but  little,  and  that  little  consisted 
of  cut  money,  or  Spanish  dollars  cut  into  quarters  and 
eighths  to  serve  as  small  change,  some  foreign  coin,  and 
the  paper  notes  of  such  banking  institutions  as  the 
State  and  Territorial  legislatures  had  chartered,  or  as 
had  sprung  up  and  were  issuing  money  without  a 
legal  right  to  do  so. 

This  currency,  which  had  never  at  any  time  been 
more  than  sufficient  for  the  needs  of  the  West,  was 
now  in  the  new  order  of  things  totally  inadequate  to 


IS  SOUND  FINANCE  POSSIBLE. 

the  wants  of  the  people.  The  cry  for  money,  above  all 
for  cheap  money,  for  money  that  could  be  borrowed  in 
large  sums  on  the  wildest  security,  went  up  from  every 
part  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  was  heard.  For 
several  years  no  Legislature  ever  met  but  new  banks 
were  established  and  a  flood  of  paper  money  issued, 
which  the  people  made  haste  to  borrow,  invest,  and 
lose.  Ohio  chartered  twenty  •  Indiana,  three ;  Illinois, 
two ;  Tennessee,  twelve ;  Missouri,  two,  and  actually 
issued  loan  certificates  and,  in  defiance  of  the  Federal 
Constitution,  made  her  paper  legal  tender.  Kentucky 
in  1818  chartered  forty-six.  The  history  of  these  Ken 
tucky  banks  is  unquestionably  the  most  striking  chapter 
in  the  annals  of  fiat  money.  The  honest  purpose  and 
the  high  hopes  with  which  they  were  created ;  the 
eagerness  and  universality  with  which  their  notes  were 
borrowed  and  circulated ;  the  load  of  debt  entailed ; 
the  fury  of  the  people  when  the  day  of  reckoning 
came ;  the  wicked  and  unjust  method  of  relief ;  and  the 
final  triumph  of  good  sense  and  majority  rule — all  com 
bine  to  make  it  a  lesson  full  of  instruction  at  this 
moment. 

There  were  then  doing  business  in  the  State  the 
Bank  of  Kentucky,  with  branches  wherever  occasion 
really  required  them,  and,  since  1817,  two  branches 
(or  offices  of  discount  and  deposit)  of  the  new  Bank  of 
the  United  States.  As  the  branches  of  the  United 
States  Bank  issued  drafts,  but  no  bills,  and  as  the  Bank 
of  Kentucky  was  compelled  to  redeem  its  notes  in 
specie,  neither  institution  could  begin  to  supply  even  a 
small  part  of  the  circulating  medium  demanded.  It 
was  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  such  a  medium,  there 
fore,  that  the  forty-six  banks  were  chartered.  Thirty- 


24:2  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

five  of  them  actually  went  into  operation  and  were 
known  in  the  hour  of  their  popularity  as  "the  Inde 
pendent  Banks,"  but  in  the  time  of  their  adversity  as 
"the  Litter."  The  nominal  capital  of  them  all  was 
not  far  from  eight  millions  of  dollars.  The  actual 
capital  was  little  or  nothing,  for  the  very  same  specie 
went  from  bank  to  bank,  remaining  in  each  one  just 
long  enough  for  the  letter  of  the  law  to  be  complied 
with.  To  have  made  their  notes  redeemable  in  specie 
would  have  been  such  an  idle  farce  that  it  was  not  at 
tempted,  so  Bank  of  Kentucky  notes  were  substituted. 
It  mattered  little  what  they  were  redeemable  in,  for  the 
people  were  glad  to  get  them,  and  the  branches  of  the 
United  States  Bank  willingly  took  them  in  payment  of 
drafts  on  the  Eastern  cities.  As  the  notes  of  the  Inde 
pendent  Banks  were  thus  exchangeable  for  United 
States  branch  drafts,  which  in  turn  were  exchangeable 
for  specie  or  European  products  in  Baltimore,  or  Phila 
delphia,  or  New  York,  the  effect  was  the  same  as  if 
Kentucky  paper  had  been  made  current  money  at  the 
seaboard.  They  were  greatly  in  demand,  were  issued 
in  large  quantities,  and  were  passing  freely  from  hand 
to  hand,  when  suddenly  the  Bank  of  the  United  States 
at  Philadelphia  sent  forth  an  imperative  order  to  its 
western  branches  to  stop  all  loans  and  hurry  a  great 
sum  of  specie  eastward.  They  at  once  responded,  and 
in  a  moment  the  whole  West  was  bankrupt.  Bank 
after  bank  suspended  specie  payment,  and  among  them 
was  that  of  Kentucky.  "Well  it  might,  for  the  amount 
of  debts  owed  by  the  people  of  Kentucky  to  the  two 
branches  of  the  United  States  Bank  was  two  million 
seven  hundred  thousand  dollars.  Public  opinion 
forced  it  to  resume  almost  immediately.  But  the  harm 


IS  SOUND  FINANCE  POSSIBLE.  243 

was  done,  and  the  community,  almost  as  one  man,  rose 
against  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  Resolutions 
were  introduced  in  the  Legislature  asking  the  president 
of  the  bank  to  withdraw  the  branches  from  the  State, 
and  when  nothing  came  of  this  a  tax  of  five  thousand 
dollars  a  month  was  laid  on  each  of  them.  The  banks, 
it  may  well  be  supposed,  refused  to  pay,  and  in  Febru 
ary,  1819,  before  the  first  instalment  was  due,  applica 
tion  was  made  in  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States 
for  an  injunction  to  stop  the  execution  of  the  law, 
which  did  not,  it  was  claimed,  impose  a  tax,  but  inflicted 
pains  and  penalties,  as  it  was  on  its  very  face  intended 
to  drive  the  two  branches  out  of  the  State.  The  Court 
refused  to  consider  the  question  of  constitutionality  of 
the  law,  because  the  famous  case  of  McCulloch  against 
Maryland  was  still  pending  in  the  Supreme  Court,  but 
granted  a  temporary  injunction  till  the  meeting  of  the 
Circuit  Court  in  May. 

This  afforded  some  satisfaction  ;  but  no  relief.  In 
deed,  as  the  autumn  of  1819  came,  matters  grew  worse. 
The  crops  were  abundant ;  flour,  hemp,  and  tobacco 
were  plentiful.  But  no  market  existed,  and  the  people, 
realizing  that  the  means  of  settling  their  debts  were  as 
remote  as  ever,  resorted  in  desperation  to  county  meet 
ings  and  took  into  consideration  their  financial  situation. 
The  address  adopted  at  one  of  these  gatherings  sets 
forth  that  the  scarcity  of  money,  the  pressure  of  the 
banks  on  individuals  and  of  individuals  on  those  in 
debted  to  them,  the  difficulty  of  raising  even  moderate 
sums  by  enormous  sacrifices  of  property,  the  usurious 
rates  of  interest  demanded,  and  the  general  embarrass 
ment  of  the  business  world,  were  hastening  a  general 
suspension  of  specie  and  the  utter  destruction  of  social 


244  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

order  and  happiness.  Taken  together,  these  causes, 
threatened  to  bring  suddenly  into  the  market,  at 
forced  sales  at  auction,  a  large  part  of  the  most  val 
uable  property  in  the  State.  The  numerous  sales,  with 
few  bidders,  would  surely  shift  this  property  from  the 
many  to  the  few,  entail  misery  on  the  husbandman,  and 
leave  a  heart-broken,  dispirited  population  in  a  desolate 
land.  Neither  justice  nor  humanity  should  permit 
such  ruin  if  a  peaceable  remedy  could  be  found,  and 
it  could  be  found  if  the  banks  would  suspend  specie 
payment,  stop  their  calls,  issue  more  bills,  and  if  the 
Legislature  would  meet  and  decide  how  much  paper 
each  bank  could  issue  and  what  sort  of  security  the 
borrower  should  give  for  it. 

At  some  of  the  meetings  the  question  was  flatly  put 
whether  the  banks  should  not  be  encouraged  to  sus 
pend.  Sometimes  the  decision  was  in  the  negative ; 
but  generally  the  will  of  the  majority  was  that  they 
should.  "No  popular  encouragement  to  stop  payment 
was  needed,  and  the  Independent  Banks,  after  seeing 
their  notes  steadily  depreciate  to  a  discount  of  twenty, 
thirty,  forty  per  cent,  were  brought  to  such  a  pass  that 
seventeen  suspended,  and  by  so  doing  lost  their  charters. 
The  Bank  of  Kentucky  followed,  and  the  whole  State 
was  in  confusion.  Ten  millions  of  dollars  were  owed 
the  banks  by  the  people,  and  from  this  load  of  debt 
the  Legislature  now  attempted  to  rid  the  community  by 
legislation. 

The  law  chartering  the  litter  of  independent  banks 
was  repealed.  The  senators  and  representatives  of 
the  State  at  Washington  were  called  on  to  do  their 
best  to  have  the  branches  of  the  United  States  Bank 
removed  from  Kentucky ;  and  a  stay  law  passed  which 


IS  SOUND  FINANCE  POSSIBLE.  245 

suspended  all  sales  under  executions,  decrees,  and  re 
plevins  for  sixty  days  after  the  passage  of  the  law 
if  the  defendant  gave  bonds  that  the  goods  levied  on 
would  be  produced  at  the  end  of  that  time.  The 
acting  Governor  refused  to  sign  it.  He  did  not  be 
lieve,  he  said,  that  a  law  should  delay  or  deny  justice. 
But  the  Legislature  passed  the  act  over  his  veto,  gave 
permission  for  the  introduction  of  a  bill  to  declare  void 
all  sales  made  under  any  execution  issued  in  favor  of 
the  Bank  of  the  United  States  or  its  branches,  and, 
just  before  the  expiration  of  the  sixty-day  stay  law, 
passed  a  replevin  act  of  a  most  shameful  character. 
Thenceforth,  when  any  execution  issued,  on  any  bond, 
judgment,  or  decree,  from  any  court  or  justice  of  the 
peace,  the  plaintiff  had  the  privilege  of  writing  on  the 
bill  the  words,  "  Notes  of  the  Bank  of  Kentucky  or  its 
branches  will  be  accepted  in  discharge  of  this  execu 
tion."  If  he  made  this  indorsement  the  defendant 
could  replevy  but  for  one  year.  Should  the  defend 
ant  fail  to  replevy,  the  property  was  to  be  sold  on 
credit  for  one  year  for  what  it  would  bring.  Should 
the  plaintiff  refuse  to  make  the  indorsement,  the  de 
fendant  might  replevy  for  two  years. 

This  indorsement  and  replevin  act  put  off  the  day 
of  reckoning,  and  for  the  time  being  saved  the  debtor 
from  the  clutches  of  the  law.  But  the  debts  of  the 
people,  now  far  more  than  ten  millions  of  dollars,  still 
remained,  and  to  liquidate  them  the  Legislature  in  1821 
put  in  operation  a  new  paper-money  machine  which  it 
called  the  Bank  of  the  Commonwealth.  It  was  the 
State  treasury  turned  into  a  paper-money  mill  pure 
and  simple.  There  were  no  -stockholders,  no  stock,  no 
capital,  no  redemption  of  notes.  A  president  and 


246  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

board  of  directors  chosen  annually  by  the  Legislature 
managed  its  affairs.  Its  funds  were  all  money  paid 
in  for  land  warrants,  all  revenue  from  the  sale  of  land 
which  the  State  owned  west  of  the  Tennessee  River, 
the  stock  owned  by  the  State  in  the  Bank  of  Kentucky, 
and  such  unexpended  balance  as,  at  the  end  of  the 
year,  might  be  found  in  the  State  treasury.  Its  notes 
were  to  issue  to  the  amount  of  three  millions  of  dollars, 
were  to  be  apportioned  among  the  countries  on  the 
basis  of  taxable  property,  and  were  to  be  loaned  on 
mortgage  security  to  those  and  to  those  only  who,  in 
the  words  of  the  law,  needed  them  "  for  the  purpose 
of  paying  his,  her,  or  their  just  debts,"  or  intended  to 
buy  the  products  of  Kentucky  for  shipment  from  the 
State.  That  the  bank  might  never  be  under  the  ne 
cessity  of  suspending,  the  notes  were  not  redeemable 
in  specie,  and  that  nothing  might  be  wanting  to  make 
them  as  fine  specimens  of  fiat  money  as  ever  existed, 
they  were  made  legal  tender  for  all  debts  due  by  or 
to  the  State. 

That  the  people  would  take  the  new  money  was 
never  doubted,  for  their  debts  were  heavy  and  the 
paper  gave  them  an  easy  means  of  liquidation.  But 
that  the  Bank  of  Kentucky  would  refuse  the  new  issue 
was  certain.  It  was  therefore  reorganized,  its  old 
directors  were  turned  out  and  men  who  favored  the 
Bank  of  the  Commonwealth  put  in,  and  the  Bank  of 
Kentucky  almost  immediately  suspended. 

Meantime  the  constitutionality  of  the  indorsement 
and  replevin  act  had  been  tested  in  the  courts.  That 
it  was  a  flat  violation  of  the  Federal  Constitution  is 
undoubted.  "  No  State,"  says  that  instrument,  "  shall 
make  anything  but  gold  and  silver  coin  a  legal  tender 


IS  SOUND  FINANCE  POSSIBLE.  217 

in  payment  of  debts,  nor  pass  any  law  impairing  the 
obligations  of  contracts."  It  was  not  long,  therefore, 
before  a  test  case  reached  the  Bourbon  Circuit  Court  of 
Kentucky,  where  the  question  of  constitutionality  was 
raised  and  decided  in  the  negative.  The  Legislature 
happening  to  be  in  session,  a  member  moved  for  the 
appointment  of  a  committee  to  inquire  into  the  deci 
sion  of  the  judge  who  had  "  grossly  transcended  his 
judicial  authority  and  disregarded  the  constitutional 
powers  of  the  Legislature  of  this  Commonwealth." 
The  committee,  when  it  reported,  said  that  in  its  opin 
ion  the  judge  had  committed  a  high  crime  and  misde 
meanor,  and  ought  to  be  removed  from  office.  That 
the  judicial  department  had  power  to  defeat  the 
general  policy  of  the  State,  deliberately  adopted  by 
the  Legislature,  was  something  the  committee  could  not 
admit.  Such  a  doctrine  was  incompatible  with  the 
constitutional  powers  of  the  Legislature,  subversive  of 
the  best  interests  of  the  people,  and  well  calculated  to 
disturb  the  public  peace  and  shake  public  confidence 
in  the  whole  relief  system  which  had  been  called  for 
by  the  condition  and  necessities  of  the  people.  An 
address  to  the  Governor  asking  him  to  remove  the 
judge  from  office  was  accordingly  brought  in ;  but 
though  it  secured  a  great  majority  of  the  House  it 
failed  to  pass  for  want  of  two  thirds.  But  the  end 
was  not  yet.  A  year  later  a  case  involving  the  ques 
tion  of  the  constitutionality  of  the  relief  laws  reached 
the  Court  of  Appeals,  a  body  composed  of  three  judges 
who  held  office  during  good  behavior.  Two  agreed 
that  the  indorsement  and  replevin  laws  were  binding 
on  all  transactions  occurring  after  their  passage,  but 
null  and  void  as  to  anything  which  had  transpired  be- 
17 


24:8  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

fore  that  time.  The  third  went  further  and  declared 
the  laws  were  unconstitutional  and  would  not  be  ap 
plied  by  the  Court  in  any  case. 

As  the  news  of  this  decision  swept  through  the 
State  (though  it  applied  only  to  contracts  made  before 
the  passage  of  the  law),  excitement  and  alarm  went 
with  it.  The  Legislature  was  not  then  in  session  ;  but 
the  moment  it  met,  John  Adair,  the  Governor,  sent 
in  a  most  excited  message.  He  accused  the  Court  of 
showing  an  open  disregard  for  the  ancient  distinction 
between  right  and  remedy,  with  striking  at  the  sover 
eignty  of  the  State  and  the  right  of  the  people  to 
govern  themselves,  and  committed  its  decision  to  the 
Legislature's  most  solemn  consideration.  The  Senate 
was  eager  to  destroy  the  Court,  and  was  prevented  only 
by  a  tie  vote  from  calling  a  State  convention  to  amend 
the  Constitution  and  change  the  judiciary.  The  House 
by  a  large  majority  declared  the  decision  of  the  Court 
of  Appeals  to  be  erroneous ;  voted  that  the  indorse 
ment  and  replevin  laws  were  constitutional  and  valid ; 
and  resolved  to  do  something  in  support  of  them. 
But  they  did  nothing,  for  an  election  was  at  hand 
and  the  matter  went  down  to  the  people,  to  whom  an 
earnest  appeal  was  made  to  choose  men  who  would  vote 
for  an  address  of  removal.  The  people  responded  in 
part  and  sent  back  a  Legislature  of  which  only  a  majori 
ty  were  relief  men,  and  again  removal  of  the  judges  by 
the  Governor  was  defeated.  Nevertheless,  a  majority 
could  do  much,  and,  following  the  example  set  them  by 
Congress  in  the  early  months  of  Jefferson's  adminis 
tration,  it  repealed  the  act  creating  the  Court  of  Ap 
peals,  and  legislated  all  the  judges  out  of  office.  A 
new  court  was  then  established  by  another  act,  and  on 


IS  SOUND  FINANCE  POSSIBLE.  249 

the  bench  were  placed  men  who  would  see  to  it  that 
the  relief  laws  were  sustained  and  administered  in  ac 
cordance  with  their  plain  intent  and  meaning.  But 
the  judges  of  the  old  court  firmly  refused  to  submit, 
denied  the  constitutionality  of  the  repeal  of  the  judici 
ary  act,  and  continued  to  hold  sittings  and  to  deliver 
judgments. 

There  were  thus  two  courts  in  the  State,  and  two 
parties  ranged  around  them.  The  "  new  court  party  " 
protested  that  liberty,  republicanism,  democratic  in 
stitutions,  State  rights,  self-government,  were  all  at 
stake.  The  "old  court  party"  admitted  that  liberty, 
republicanism,  and  self-government  were  indeed  at 
stake.  The  question,  said  its  leaders,  is,  Can  right 
and  justice  be  secured  under  all  circumstances  in  a 
land  where  the  will  of  the  people  rules  ?  Is  it  pos 
sible  for  an  independent  judiciary  to  protect  the  rights 
of  a  minority  against  the  will  of  an  interested,  excited, 
and  ill-disposed  majority  ?  The  answer  of  the  people 
was,  Yes ;  and  when  the  Legislature  met  in  1825  the 
House  was  in  the  hands  of  the  old  court  party,  and 
voted  to  abolish  the  new  court.  The  Senate  which  held 
over  was  in  the  control  of  the  new  court  party,  and 
refused  to  agree.  Once  more  the  question  went  down 
to  the  people,  and  in  the  elections  of  1826  the  contest 
was  again  between  the  old  court  party  and  the  new. 
This  time  the  triumph  was  a  signal  one.  The  friends 
of  the  old  court  carried  both  House  and  Senate ;  the 
replevin  law  was  repealed,  the  "  new  court "  was  abol 
ished,  the  old  court  was  reinstated,  and  justice  once 
more  done  to  debtor  and  creditor  alike. 

The  history  of  Ohio  during  these  trying  times 
affords  another  instance  of  the  final  triumph  of  ma- 


250  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

jority  rule  after  a  period  during  winch  it  seemed  im 
possible  to  bring  the  community  to  a  sense  of  right  and 
justice.  In  that  great  State  the  people  had  entered 
with  enthusiasm  on  the  manufacture  of  money,  had 
chartered  their  banks  and  were  in  the  full  enjoyment 
of  a  cheap  and  plentiful  paper  currency,  when  they 
heard  with  dismay  that  the  Bank  of  the  United  States, 
that  regulator  of  the  currency,  was  about  to  open 
branches  at  Chillicothe  and  Cincinnati.  In  the  hope 
of  shutting  out  what,  in  the  language  of  its  enemies, 
was  called  "  the  hydra-headed  foreign  shaving  shop," 
the  Legislature  threatened  to  impose  a  heavy  tax.  But 
the  threat  was  disregarded ;  the  banks  came,  and  in  1819 
an  annual  tax  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  was  laid  on  each 
of  them,  and  the  auditor  commanded  to  issue  his  war 
rant  on  a  certain  day  for  the  collection  of  it.  Should 
the  banks  refuse,  the  agent  was  to  seize  any  specie, 
bank-notes,  goods  and  chattels  found  in  the  banking 
house,  and,  if  necessary,  break  open  every  vault,  room, 
closet,  drawer,  and  box,  search  them,  and  carry  away 
their  contents.  The  demand  for  payment  of  the  tax 
was  made  in  the  office  at  Chillicothe,  at  the  close  of  a 
business  day  in  September,  1819.  As  was  expected,  the 
money  was  refused ;  whereupon  the  agent,  forcing  his 
way  into  the  vaults,  broke  open  the  boxes,  carried  off 
more  than  the  amount  of  the  tax,  and  deposited  the 
money  in  the  State  treasury  at  Columbus. 

For  this  act  the  auditor,  his  agents,  and  the  State 
treasurer  were  sued  by  the  bank,  and  while  the  suits 
were  still  pending  the  Legislature  assembled  and  began 
an  investigation.  The  times  were  now  hard  indeed. 
All  the  fine  visions  of  the  speculators,  the  paper-money 
men,  the  bank  men,  had  vanished.  Bankruptcy  and 


IS  SOUND  FINANCE  POSSIBLE.  251 

debt  were  everywhere.  Stay  laws,  replevin  laws,  in 
dorsement  laws,  relief  laws  of  every  sort,  were  the 
order  of  the  day.  Nothing  was  so  hateful  now  as  a 
bank,  and,  above  all,  the  Bank  of  the  United  States. 
The  Supreme  Court  had  decided  that  a  State  could  not 
tax  it.  But  Ohio  adopted  and  affirmed  the  Virginia 
and  Kentucky  resolutions  of  1798  and  1800 ;  hurled  a 
defiance  at  the  Supreme  Court,  told  it  that  acquiescence 
was  not  the  necessary  consequence  of  its  decisions,  and 
passed  "an  act  to  withdraw  from  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States  the  protection  of  the  laws  of  this  State 
in  certain  cases."  If  the  bank  gave  notice  to  the  Gov 
ernor  of  its  willingness  to  stop  the  suits  against  the 
State  officers,  and  to  submit  to  a  four-per-cent  tax  on 
its  dividends,  or  leave  the  State,  the  Governor  might 
suspend  the  law  by  proclamation.  If  it  did  not,  then 
every  jailer  was  forbidden  to  receive  into  his  custody 
any  person  committed  at  the  suit  of  the  bank,  or  for 
any  injury  done  to  it.  Every  judicial  officer  was  pro 
hibited  to  take  acknowledgment  of  conveyances  when 
the  bank  was  a  party,  and  every  recorder  from  receiv 
ing  and  entering  them.  Notaries  public  were  pre 
vented  from  protesting  bills  or  notes  held  by  the  bank 
and  made  payable  to  it;  and  justices  of  the  peace, 
judges,  and  grand  juries  could  no  longer  take  cogni 
zance  of  any  wrong  committed  on  the  property  of  the 
bank,  though  it  were  burglary,  robbery,  or  arson.  The 
bank  would  not  discontinue  the  suits  nor  leave  the 
State,  so  the  law  went  into  effect,  and  in  September, 
1820,  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  became  an  outlaw 
in  Ohio. 

Here  again,  as  in  Kentucky,  extreme  measures  pro 
duced  their  inevitable  result.     A  reaction  set  in.     The 


252  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

good  sense  of  the  plain  people  prevailed  over  the  folly 
of  the  legislators,  and  the  law  was  erased  from  the 
statute-book.  Both  in  Kentucky  and  Ohio  the  cases 
were  extreme ;  yet  they  are  striking  illustrations  of  the 
fact  that  in  this  country  all  questions  of  great  im 
portance  are  finally  settled  not  by  Presidents,  nor  by 
Congresses,  nor  by  the  legislatures  of  the  States,  but 
by  the  hard  common  sense  of  the  people,  who  in  their 
own  good  tune  and  way  have  heretofore  adjusted  all 
difficulties  wisely. 


FEANKLIN  IN  FEANCE. 

THOSE  who  have  never  seen  the  Franklin  alcove  in 
the  Boston  Public  Library,  nor  examined  the  catalogue 
of  Frankliniana  so  carefully  prepared  by  Mr.  Lindsay 
Swift,  can  have  no  conception  of  the  vast  mass  of 
literature  of  which  Benjamin  Franklin  is  the  subject. 
Cooper  and  Mrs.  Stowe  alone  excepted,  our  country 
has  produced  no  writer  whose  works  have  been  so 
generally  translated  and  read  abroad.  For  some  of  his 
shorter  pieces  a  strange  infatuation  seems  to  exist,  and 
one,  Father  Abraham's  Address,  may  be  read  in 
French,  in  German,  in  Spanish,  in  Italian,  in  Bohe 
mian,  in  Gaelic,  and  in  modern  Greek.  Since  the  April 
day,  1790,  when  he  expired  at  Philadelphia,  no  period 
of  ten  years  has  passed  by  without  an  edition  of  his 
autobiography  or  a  new  life  of  him  appearing  in  some 
of  the  languages  of  civilized  men. 

It  has  always  seemed  to  us  that  the  period  of 
Franklin's  life  about  which  least  is  generally  known  is 
that  which  covers  his  residence  in  France.  Every 
school-boy  knows  the  history  of  his  early  years  ;  of  the 
whistle  for  which  he  paid  too  much;  of  the  quarrel 
that  drove  him  from  Boston ;  of  the  memorable  Sun 
day  walk  through  the  streets  of  Philadelphia.  Yet  it 
would  trouble  men  of  wide  reading  to  give  even  a 

253 


254  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

tolerable  account  of  his  claims  to  be  considered  a 
statesman,  or  of  his  famous  mission  to  the  Court  of 
Louis  XVI. 

The  story  of  that  mission  goes  back  to  November, 
1775,  when  a  stranger,  lame  and  speaking  but  little 
English,  appeared  in  Philadelphia.  He  put  up  at  a 
tavern,  and  sent  word  to  Congress  that  he  had  some 
thing  of  weight  to  tell.  No  heed  was  paid  to  him. 
But  he  persisted,  and  sent  again  and  again,  till  John 
Jay,  Benjamin  Franklin,  and  Thomas  Jefferson  were 
despatched  to  speak  with  him.  They  met  him  in  one 
of  the  rooms  in  the  Carpenter's  Hall,  were  assured  of 
the  warm  sympathy  of  France,  and  were  told  that 
money,  arms,  and  ammunition  should  all  be  theirs. 
"When  asked  for  his  name  and  credentials,  the  stranger 
drew  a  hand  across  his  throat,  said  he  knew  how  to 
take  care  of  his  head,  bowed  himself  out,  and  was 
never  seen  again. 

The  committee,  however,  were  much  impressed, 
and  Congress,  acting  on  their  report,  named  another  to 
correspond  secretly  with  the  friends  of  America  in 
Great  Britain,  Ireland,  and  France.  This  new  com 
mittee  was  active ;  letters  were  written  to  Dumas  and 
Arthur  Lee  abroad,  and  Story,  Penet,  and  Silas  Deane 
were  sent  out  with  letters  from  home.  But  it  was  long 
before  any  word  came  back.  Three  months  went  by, 
and  lengthened  to  six  months,  to  eight  months,  without 
a  line  from  one  of  them.  Then  came  the  letter  of 
Dubourg  to  Franklin,  full  of  assurances  of  the  most 
comforting  kind,  and  straightway  Franklin,  Deane,  and 
Jefferson  were  chosen  commissioners  to  France.  Jeffer 
son  would  not  go,  and,  in  an  evil  hour,  Arthur  Lee  was 
elected  in  his  stead. 


FRANKLIN  IN  FRANCE.  255 

The  choice  was  made  on  the  twenty-sixth  of  Sep 
tember,  1776.  On  the  twenty-sixth  of  October  Frank 
lin  set  out  alone,  for  Lee  and  Deane  were  already  in 
France.  The  weather  was  tempestuous;  the  sea  was 
boisterous  and  crowded  with  English  cruisers.  More 
than  once  the  captain  was  forced  to  beat  to  quarters. 
But  the  voyage,  most  happily,  was  short,  and  on  the 
third  of  December  he  landed  at  Auroy,  on  the  coast  of 
Brittany,  and  hastened  with  his  two  grandsons  to 
Nantes.  Then  began  such  an  ovation  as  has  never 
since  been  given  to  any  citizen  of  the  United  States. 
The  writings  of  Rousseau,  of  Voltaire,  of  Montesquieu, 
had  done  their  work,  and  the  moment  the  report  of 
"  the  shot  heard  round  the  world  "  reached  France,  the 
nation  rose  as  one  man,  and  took  sides  with  liberty. 
At  Versailles,  at  Paris,  in  the  coffee-rooms,  at  the 
watering-places,  in  the  remotest  province  of  France, 
the  struggle  in  America  became  the  topic  of  the  hour. 
The  Courrier  d' Avignon  and  the  Mercure  de  France 
gave  long  accounts  of  the  tea  tax,  of  the  fight  at  Lex 
ington,  of  the  enthusiasm  of  the  women  for  the  cause. 
The  people  of  Paris  drew  comparisons  between  the  full 
accounts  of  American  affairs  in  the  Mercure  and  the 
meagre  accounts  in  the  official  Gazette  of  France,  and 
abused  the  ministry  for  its  conduct.  Vergennes  was 
called  a  fool,  a  dolt,  a  tool  of  England,  because  he  did 
not  openly  support  the  "  insurgents." 

That  this  state  of  public  feeling  had  all  to  do  with 
the  extraordinary  reception  given  to  Franklin  does  not 
admit  of  doubt.  Had  he  come  among  a  people  in 
different,  or  but  lukewarm  in  his  cause,  his  reputation 
in  the  world  of  philosophy  and  of  letters  would  have 
profited  him  nothing.  But  he  came  among  a  people 


256  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

deeply  interested  in  his  cause,  and  he  was  from  the 
hour  of  his  arrival  at  Nantes  an  object  of  boundless 
curiosity.  "The  arrival  of  Dr.  Franklin  at  Nantes," 
a  lieutenant  of  police  wrote  to  Yergennes,  "is  creat 
ing  a  great  sensation."  Yet  it  was  as  nothing  to  that 
he  created  at  Paris.  Statesmen,  churchmen,  men  of 
letters,  merchants,  nobles,  and  great  ladies  crowded 
his  rooms,  and  welcomed  him  as  no  foreigner  had 
ever  been  welcomed  before.  His  name  and  his  cause 
were  on  every  lip,  till  Yergennes  forbade  the  crowds 
in  the  coffee-houses  to  discuss  "  des  insurgens" 

Meanwhile,  the  commissioners  sent  a  note  to  Yer 
gennes,  asked  an  audience,  and  took  up  their  abode  at 
Passy,  then  a  pleasant  town  on  the  outskirts  of  Paris. 
For  a  whole  year  the  King  could  not  be  persuaded  to 
receive  them  as  commissioners.  Franklin  did  not,  in 
consequence,  go  to  court,  and  was  rarely  seen  at  Paris. 
But  he  was  far  from  idle.  Day  after  day  he  was  beset 
by  all  manner  of  suitors.  Women  of  rank,  great  sol 
diers,  courtiers  high  in  favor,  came  to  him  in  crowds. 
Some  wanted  a  trifle  for  themselves.  Some  had  been 
teased  by  others  to  tease  him  for  a  contract,  a  com 
mission,  a  letter  to  Congress.  Strangers  on  whom  he 
had  never  before  laid  eyes  had  the  effrontery  to  bring 
and  introduce  others  as  unknown  as  themselves.  So 
incessant  did  this  become  that  he  never  accepted  an 
invitation  to  dine,  never  was  introduced  to  a  man  of 
note,  never  heard  a  carriage  roll  into  his  court,  nor 
opened  a  letter  written  in  a  strange  hand,  without  feel 
ing  sure  he  was  to  be  asked  for  something.  One 
beggar,  Dom  Bernard  Benedictus,  sent  word  to  the 
commissioners  that  if  they  would  pay  his  gambling 
debts  he  would  pray  for  the  success  of  the  American 


FRANKLIN  IN  FRANCE.  257 

cause.  The  most  persistent  of  all,  however,  were  the 
gentlemen  of  the  sword.  To  these  must  be  added  the 
merchants  hungry  for  American  tobacco  and  ship 
owners  longing  for  a  chance  to  fit  out  privateers.  Had 
their  request  for  commissions  been  granted,  they  would 
have  come  to  naught,  for  the  French  King  was  not  dis 
posed  to  openly  befriend  America.  Indeed,  it  was 
hardly  possible  for  an  American  armed  ship  to  get 
leave  to  stay  two  days  in  a  French  port.  Lambert 
Wickes  was  twice  driven  from  L' Orient.  At  St.  Malo 
the  authorities  attempted  to  seize  his  cannon  and  un 
hang  his  rudder.  Gustavus  Conyngham  and  his  crew 
were  flung  into  prison.  The  behavior  of  Wickes  in  re 
turning  to  a  port  from  which  he  had  just  been  sent  was 
a  most  impudent  act,  and  a  shameful  abuse  of  the 
patience  of  France,  and  had  she  not  been  hostile  to 
England,  had  she  been  really  neutral,  she  would  have 
shut  her  ports,  as  Portugal  did,  and  Wickes  would  never 
have  entered  L'Orient  a  second  time. 

But  the  behavior  of  Conyngham  was  bolder  and 
more  impudent  still.  One  day  in  March,  1777,  Wil 
liam  Hodge,  a  Philadelphia  merchant,  came  to  Paris, 
and  struck  an  acquaintance  with  Silas  Deane.  Deane 
was  daft  on  the  subject  of  privateers,  and  the  two  soon 
had  on  foot  a  privateering  venture  of  the  boldest  kind. 
A  lugger  was  bought  at  Dover  with  Government 
money,  was  taken  to  Dunkirk,  and  there  hastily  and 
secretly  fitted  out  by  Mr.  Hodge.  When  all  was  ready, 
Conyngham,  with  a  Continental  commission  as  captain 
in  his  pocket,  was  put  in  command  and  duly  instructed 
what  to  do.  He  was  to  cruise  in  the  Channel,  and 
spare  no  pains  to  capture  the  Harwich  packet-boat  that 
plied  between  England  and  Holland.  So  well  did  he 


258  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

obey  his  instructions  that  he  was  soon  back  in  Dunkirk 
harbor,  with  the  Prince  of  Orange  as  his  prize.  The 
whole  of  England  was  in  a  furor.  Insurance  rose; 
merchants  made  haste  to  put  their  goods  on  board  of 
French  ships,  and  felt  for  a  time  as  if  the  whole  coast 
were  in  a  state  of  blockade.  The  English  minister 
complained  most  vigorously  to  Yergennes,  and  Yer- 
gennes  acted  with  rigor.  The  packet-boat  was  seized 
and  restored,  and  Conyngham  and  his  crew  were  flung 
into  prison. 

This  misadventure  did  not  dishearten  Deane  and 
Hodge  in  the  least.  It  taught  them  a  little  wisdom, 
and  while  Conyngham  languished  in  jail  they  bought 
a  swift  cutter,  armed  her  with  twenty -two  swivels  and 
fourteen  six-pounders,  and  applied  to  Yergennes  for 
his  release.  The  commissioners  assured  the  Minister 
that  Conyngham  should  sail  at  once  for  the  United 
States,  and  Hodge  gave  bonds  for  his  doing  so.  But 
he  was  scarcely  at  sea  before  he  began  to  make  prize  of 
everything  he  met,  and  even  threatened  to  lay  in  ashes 
the  thriving  town  of  Lynn.  And  now  Yergennes  made 
another  show  of  harshness,  and  Hodge  was  soon  in  the 
Bastile. 

But  the  time  for  such  harshness  was  nearly  over. 
Every  day  the  cause  of  liberty  grew  more  popular. 
Indeed,  it  is  impossible  to  take  up  any  of  the  Me- 
moires,  GEuvres  Choisies,  Correspondance,  Lettres 
Inedites,  of  the  time  without  meeting  unmistakable 
evidence  of  the  popularity  of  the  American  rebels. 
Songs,  catches,  pamphlets,  caricatures,  nicknames,  and 
street  phrases  all  betray  it.  Lafayette  enlists,  and  the 
whole  court  is  thrown  into  excitement.  The  Hessians 
are  taken  at  Trenton,  and  the  booksellers  cannot  supply 


FRANKLIN  IN  FRANCE.  259 

the  demand  for  maps  of  America.  Burgoyne  sur 
renders,  and  the  joy  of  Paris  is  as  great  as  if  the 
victory  had  been  won  by  the  French.  "We  talk  of 
nothing  but  America  here,"  wrote  Madame  du  Def- 
fand  to  Horace  Walpole.  "When  shall  we  arm  in 
favor  of  the  insurgents  ? "  became  the  question  asked 
all  over  France.  The  answer  was,  "  At  once."  News 
of  the  famous  surrender  was  carried  to  Yergennes  on 
December  fourth,  1777.  On  the  sixteenth  the  commis 
sioners  were  told  that  the  King  would  recognize  the  in 
dependence  of  America  and  make  a  treaty  at  once 
and  on  February  sixth,  1778,  a  day  long  celebrated  in 
the  United  States,  the  Treaty  of  Alliance  and  the 
Treaty  of  Amity  were  duly  signed.  In  March  the 
commissioners  were  received  at  Versailles.  April  thir 
teenth  a  French  fleet  commanded  by  D'Estaing  sailed 
from  Toulon. 

In  the  same  ship  with  D'Estaing  went  Silas  Deane, 
for  he  had  been  recalled  by  Congress,  and  John  Adams 
had  been  sent  in  his  stead.  Adams  landed  at  Bor 
deaux,  and  met  with  a  welcome  that  amazed  him.  The 
merchants,  eager  for  free-trade  with  America,  lit  up 
their  city  in  his  honor,  and  he  read  in  one  of  the  gar 
dens  the  illuminated  inscription — "  God  save  the  Con 
gress,  Liberty,  and  Adams."  At  Paris  the  Courrier 
d' Avignon  told  the  people  that  he  was  the  brother  "  of 
the  famous  Adams,  whose  eloquence  had  been  as  deadly 
to  the  English  as  that  of  Demosthenes  was  to  Philip," 
and  ministers,  courtiers,  and  men  of  letters  hastened  to 
pay  their  respects.  At  Passy,  as  he  sat  at  the  table  of 
Madame  Brillon,  there  was  a  fine  demonstration  in  his 
honor. 

But  he  found  at  Passy  what  amazed  him  still  more. 


260  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

He  found  the  little  company  of  Americans  torn  by 
senseless  disputes  and  distracted  by  causeless  jealousy. 
That  company  had,  since  the  arrival  of  Franklin,  been 
much  increased.  To  it  had  been  added  Ralph  Izard, 
Minister  to  the  Duke  of  Tuscany ;  William  Lee,  Envoy 
to  the  courts  of  Yienna  and  Berlin ;  and  "William  Car- 
michael,  who  for  a  time  had  served  as  secretary  to 
Deane.  Had  Congress  searched  the  country  through, 
it  could  not  have  found  six  men  less  likely  to  live  at 
peace  than  Franklin,  Deane,  Izard,  Carmichael,  and 
the  two  Lees.  When,  therefore,  Adams  arrived,  he 
found  that  each  of  the  six  had  fallen  out  with  the  other 
five.  Deane  could  not  abide  Arthur  Lee,  Franklin 
had  quarrelled  with  Ralph  Izard,  both  of  the  Lees  had 
quarrelled  with  Franklin,  while  William  Carmichael 
was  at  sword's  points  with  nearly  all.  Happily,  these 
feuds  were  soon  to  end.  Though  the  six  could  agree 
in  little  else,  they  all  agreed  in  urging  Congress  to  abol 
ish  the  commission,  and  make  one  man  Minister  to 
France,  and  acting  on  this  advice  Izard  was  recalled, 
Arthur  Lee  was  deprived  of  his  commissionership, 
Adams  was  left  without  an  appointment,  and  Dr.  Frank 
lin  made  sole  Minister  to  the  court  of  France. 

Nor  were  the  business  affairs  of  the  commissioners 
in  a  much  better  state  than  their  private  affairs.  Care 
lessness,  negligence,  disorder,  prevailed.  Method  and 
order  Franklin  could  not  acquire  even  in  his  youth. 
But  he  was  now  in  his  seventy -third  year ;  had  been  out 
of  business  for  more  than  thirty  years,  and,  as  a  conse 
quence  of  age  and  leisure,  had  grown  more  careless  and 
unmethodical  than  ever.  Men  who  came  to  see  him 
were  astonished  to  behold  the  weightiest  papers  scat 
tered  in  profusion  about  the  room.  Some  who  knew 


FKANKLIN  IN  FRANCE.  261 

him  well  ventured  to  protest,  and  reminded  him  that  the 
French  were  eager  to  know  his  business,  that  he  might 
in  his  own  household  have  many  spies,  and  even  went 
so  far  as  to  suggest  that  his  grandson  should  spend  half 
an  hour  a  day  in  putting  his  papers  to  rights.  To  these 
his  answer  was  always  the  same.  He  knew  that  he 
was  in  all  probability  surrounded  by  spies ;  but  it  was 
his  practice  never  to  be  concerned  in  any  business  he 
was  not  willing  to  have  everybody  know,  and  the  dis 
order  went  on.  All  the  commercial  affairs,  all  treaty 
matters,  all  money  matters,  all  the  diplomatic  affairs  of 
the  United  States  abroad,  were  in  the  hands  of  the  com 
missioners.  They  made  loans,  bought  ships,  paid  sala 
ries,  exchanged  prisoners.  Yet  not  a  note-book,  not  a 
letter-book,  not  an  account-book  of  any  kind,  had  been 
kept. 

Such  a  shameful  disregard  of  the  first  principles  of 
business  alarmed  Adams,  who  turned  himself  into  a 
drudge,  introduced  something  like  order  into  the  office 
of  the  commission,  and  in  a  long  letter  to  Samuel 
Adams  drew  a  pretty  just  character  of  Franklin  as  a 
man  of  business : 

"  The  other  (Franklin)  you  know  personally,  and  that 
he  loves  his  ease,  hates  to  offend,  and  seldom  gives  any 
opinion  till  obliged  to  do  it.  I  know  also,  and  it  is 
necessary  that  you  should  be  informed,  that  he  is  over 
whelmed  with  a  correspondence  from  all  quarters,  most 
of  them  upon  trifling  subjects  and  in  a  more  trifling 
style,  with  unmeaning  visits  from  multitudes  of  people, 
chiefly  from  the  vanity  of  having  it  to  say  that  they 
have  seen  him.  There  is  another  thing  which  I  am 
obliged  to  mention.  There  are  so  many  private  fami 
lies,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  that  he  visits  so  often — and 


262  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

they  are  so  fond  of  him  that  he  can  not  well  avoid  it — 
and  so  much  intercourse  with  the  Academicians,  that 
all  these  things  together  keep  his  mind  in  a  constant 
state  of  dissipation.  If,  indeed,  you  take  out  of  his 
hands  the  public  treasury,  and  the  direction  of  the  frig 
ates  and  Continental  vessels  that  are  sent  here,  and  all 
commercial  affairs  and  intrust  them  to  persons  to  be  ap 
pointed  by  Congress,  at  Nantes  and  Bordeaux,  I  should 
think  it  would  be  best  to  have  him  here  alone  with 
such  a  secretary  as  you  can  confide  in.  But  if  he  is  left 
here  alone  even  with  such  a  secretary,  and  all  maritime 
and  commercial  as  well  as  political  affairs  are  left  in  his 
hands,  I  am  persuaded  that  France  and  America  will 
both  have  reason  to  repent  it.  He  is  not  only  so  indo 
lent  that  business  will  be  neglected,  but  you  know  that 
although  he  has  as  determined  a  soul  as  any  man,  yet 
it  is  his  constant  policy  never  to  say  '  Yes '  or  '  ~No  '  de 
cidedly  but  when  he  cannot  well  avoid  it."  .  .  . 

The  fears  of  Mr.  Adams  were  as  unfounded  as  his 
criticism  was  just.  Franklin  was  indolent,  was  fond  of 
society,  was  unable  to  say  Yes  and  E"o.  But  he  was,  at 
the  same  time,  the  most  original  character  produced  in 
America  during  the  eighteenth  century,  and  he  accom 
plished  a  work  in  France  no  other  American  could  pos 
sibly  have  done.  On  the  March  day,  1778,  when,  in 
buckleless  shoes,  wigless,  and  in  the  plainest  clothes,  he 
made  his  way  through  a  crowd  of  painted  beauties  and 
powdered  fops  to  the  presence  of  the  King,  his  position 
in  France  completely  changed.  On  that  day  he  ceased 
to  be  a  solicitor  of  favor.  On  that  day  he  became  the 
recognized  representative  of  the  United  States,  and 
more  than  ever  the  centre  of  attraction  at  Paris.  Mr. 
Lee  and  Mr.  Deane  were  mere  ciphers.  What  they 


FRANKLIN  IN  FRANCE.  263 

thought,  or  did,  or  said,  was,  to  the  French  people  and 
the  French  court,  of  no  consequence  whatever.  No 
paper  ever  mentioned  their  names.  No  great  man 
ever  darkened  their  doorways.  The  ear  of  Yergennes 
was  never  open  to  them  till  a  letter  from  Franklin  had 
prepared  the  way.  This  position  Franklin  reached  in 
a  way  Mr.  Adams  could  not  understand.  That  a  man 
who  flung  his  papers  all  over  the  floor,  kept  no  ac 
counts,  copied  no  letters,  hated  business,  dined  out  six 
nights  a  week,  and  would  not  send  away  even  a  pester 
ing  fellow  with  an  angry  "  No  ! "  could  really  be  serving 
his  country  well  was  to  Mr.  Adams  an  absurdity.  Mr. 
Adams  would  have  lived  at  Paris,  ignored  the  people, 
deluged  the  Ministers  with  notes,  and  have  been  well 
snubbed  before  he  had  been  six  months  in  France. 
Franklin  went  to  Passy,  lived  secluded,  gave  the  Min 
istry  no  trouble  whatever,  and  by  his  tact,  his  shrewd 
ness,  his  worldly  wisdom,  his  wit,  his  skill  in  the  man 
agement  of  men,  made  himself  the  most  popular  man 
in  France,  and  by  his  popularity  overcame  a  reluctant 
Minister  and  yet  more  reluctant  King.  This  done,  the 
rest  of  his  work  was  easy.  He  had  but  to  keep  the 
good- will  and  love  of  the  French  people,  and  he  kept 
them  completely.  Hardly  was  the  ink  of  the  treaty 
dry  when  canes,  hats,  snuffboxes,  all  became  "a  la 
Franklin."  His  face  appeared  on  rings,  on  snuff 
boxes,  in  the  window  of  every  print-shop,  and  over 
the  mantle-piece  of  every  man  of  fashion.  "  ?Tis  the 
fashion  nowadays,"  sneered  one  of  his  haters,  "  to  have 
an  engraving  of  Franklin  over  one's  mantle-piece,  as 
it  was  formerly  to  have  a  jumping-jack."  Of  such 
portraits  more  than  two  hundred  are  believed  to  be  in 
existence.  A  bust  of  him  was  set  up  in  the  Royal  Li- 
18 


264  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

brary.  Medallions  of  him  were  plentiful  at  Versailles, 
and  a  large  store  of  such  terracotta  medallions,  as  fresh 
as  on  the  day  when  they  were  first  baked,  was  found 
in  an  old  warehouse  at  Bordeaux  in  1885. 

It  was  rare  that  Franklin  came  to  Paris,  yet  when 
he  did  he  was  instantly  recognized  by  the  people.  His 
brown  suit,  his  fur  cap,  his  powderless  hair,  his  specta 
cles,  and  his  walking-stick  betrayed  him  at  once  to  men 
who  had  never  laid  eyes  on  him  before.  Crowds  followed 
him  in  his  walks  and  gathered  about  him  in  the  public 
places.  When  he  entered  the  theatre,  the  courts  of 
justice,  the  popular  resorts,  he  was  greeted  with  shouts 
of  applause.  His  good  sayings  were  spread  all  over 
France,  with  countless  other  anecdotes  americaines. 
Poets  wrote  him  sonnets.  Noble  dames  addressed  him 
in  verse.  Women  of  fashion  crowned  his  head  with 
flowers.  Grave  Academicians  shouted  with  delight  to 
see  him  hug  Yoltaire.  His  friend,  the  Abbe  Morellet, 
well  described  him  in  the  lines — 

Notre  Benjamin 

En  politique  il  est  grand, 

A  table  est  joyeaux  et  franc. 

The  absurdity  of  the  famous  kissing  scene  at  the 
Academy  of  Science  is  outdone  by  the  absurdity  of  an 
other  scene,  some  months  later,  at  a  meeting  of  the  ma 
sonic  lodge  of  the  Nine  Sisters.  Yoltaire  was  then 
dead,  and  the  business  of  the  meeting  was  a  eulogy  of 
the  old  philosopher.  In  the  hall  of  the  lodge  sat 
Madame  Denis,  niece  to  Yoltaire  ;  the  Madame  de  Yil- 
lette,  at  whose  house  he  died ;  Greuze,  who  painted  the 
beauties  and  gallants  of  the  court  of  Louis ;  Franklin, 
and  a  host  of  famous  men.  That  nothing  might  be 


FRANKLIN  IN  FRANCE.  265 

wanting  to  give  solemnity  to  the  occasion,  a  deep 
gloom  pervaded  the  hall,  and  a  huge  sepulchral  pyra 
mid  reminded  the  audience  for  what  purpose  they  were 
gathered.  The  astronomer  Lalande  addressed  Madame 
Denis.  La  Dixmerie  read  a  long  eulogy,  and,  as  he 
stopped  from  time  to  time  to  take  breath,  the  audience 
were  kept  awake  by  selections  from  the  operas  of  Castor 
and  Roland,  played  by  an  orchestra  which  Piccini  led. 

The  eulogy  ended,  soft  music,  a  blaze  of  light,  and 
claps  of  stage  thunder  followed  ;  the  pyramid  vanished, 
and  in  its  place  stood  a  huge  picture  of  the  apotheosis 
of  Yoltaire.  The  painter  represented  him  as  rising 
from  the  tomb.  Envy,  tugging  at  his  shroud,  strove  to 
hold  him  back,  but  was  driven  off  by  Minerva,  while 
Benevolence  and  Truth  introduced  him  to  Corneille, 
Racine,  Moliere,  who  hovered  near.  As  the  beholders 
sit  in  dumb  admiration,  Lalande,  Greuze,  and  Madame 
de  Villette  seize  each  a  crown  and  place  them  on  the 
heads  of  Franklin,  La  Dixmerie,  and  Gauget,  who  in 
turn  hasten  to  lay  them  at  the  feet  of  the  picture  of 
Yoltaire. 

Popularity  so  extraordinary  was  not,  however,  un- 
mingled  with  contempt.  One  writer  of  memoirs  de 
scribes  him  as  "one  of  the  great  charlatans  of  the 
eighteenth  century."  Another  cannot  abide  his  table 
manners,  and  despises  him  for  putting  butter  in  his 
eggs  and  eating  them  from  a  glass.  A  third  denounces 
him  in  a  long  poem.  The  author  of  a  "  History  of  a 
French  Louse  "  exhausts  the  French  language  in  a  dis 
gusting  description  of  him. 

Of  all  this  Franklin  knew  nothing,  and  went  on 
with  the  business  of  his  office,  which  was,  in  his  opin 
ion,  to  keep  the  cause  of  his  country  before  the  eyes  of 


266  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

the  people  of  France.  His  homely  sayings,  his  ~bon 
mots,  his  republican  simplicity  of  dress  and  manner,  did 
much  to  accomplish  this  end.  But  he  left  no  expedient 
whatever  untried,  and  taking  up  his  pen  he  wrote  a 
dialogue  between  Great  Britain,  France,  Spain,  Holland, 
Saxony,  and  America  ;  a  catechism  relative  to  the  Eng 
lish  national  debt ;  and  persuaded  Dubourg  to  make  a 
translation  of  the  constitutions  of  the  thirteen  States. 
Yergennes  objected  to  their  publication.  The  Govern 
ment  would  not  give  a  license.  But  the  book  came 
out,  and  the  cause  of  America  was  more  popular  than 
ever.  The  constitutions  were  described  as  a  code  that 
marked  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  philosophy;  as  a 
code  that  richly  deserved  to  be  well  known ;  and  the 
men  who  framed  them  were  pronounced  superior  to 
Solon  and  Lycurgus. 

In  the  midst  of  this  discussion  Lafayette  returned, 
and  the  enthusiasm  for  America  flamed  higher  still. 
Crowds  beset  him  wherever  he  went.  Magistrates 
overwhelmed  him  with  honors.  Great  ladies  insisted 
on  kissing  him.  The  King  honored  him  with  a  recep 
tion  at  court,  and  the  Queen  bestowed  on  him  a  regi 
ment  of  dragoons.  The  Ministers  even  consulted  him 
on  American  affairs;  and  soon  learned  with  pleasure 
that  he  had  brought  a  commission  creating  Franklin 
sole  Minister  of  the  United  States  to  the  court  of 
France.  With  it  came  such  an  injunction  as  a  mother, 
when  going  out  for  an  afternoon,  might  lay  on  a  family 
of  unruly  boys.  The  American  agents  in  Europe  were 
bidden  to  behave  themselves  and  quarrel  no  more  ;  but 
the  injunction  was  not  obeyed,  and  in  a  little  while  the 
feud  between  the  two  Lees,  Ealph  Izard,  and  Franklin 
was  hotter  than  ever  before. 


FRANKLIN  IN  FRANCE.  207 

As  for  Arthur  Lee,  to  the  last  hour  of  his  stay  in  O 
France  he  spared  no  pains  to  insult  Franklin,  thwart 
him,  embarrass  his  affairs,  and  invariably  met  with  suc 
cess.  But  no  success  was  more  complete  than  that 
which  attended,  the  quarrel  of  John  Paul  Jones  and 
Landais.  Jones  had  come  over  from  the  United  States 
in  the  little  ship  Ranger,  and  had  set  his  heart  on  having 
command  of  a  fine  vessel  which  the  commissioners  were 
building  at  Amsterdam.  But  the  commissioners  put 
'm  off,  and  sent  him  on  his  ever-memorable  cruise. 
First  he  appeared  before  Whitehaven,  and  threatened 
to  burn  the  shipping.  Then  he  stood  over  to  the 
Scotch  shore,  harried  the  lands  of  the  Earl  of  Selkirk, 
and  carried  away  his  plate.  The  next  day  he  fell  in 
with  the  Drake,  an  English  ship  of  twenty  guns,  en 
gaged  and  took  her,  and  came  back  with  his  prize  to 
Brest.  Emboldened  by  victory,  Jones  again  besought 
the  commissioners,  who  now  began  in  earnest  to  inter 
cede  with  the  French  court.  In  June  he  was  promised 
the  ship.  But  it  was  one  thing  to  promise  and  another 
thing  to  do,  and  in  place  of  the  ship  came  excuses,  delay, 
and  new  promises.  To  keep  up  the  semblance  of  good 
faith,  the  French  Minister  of  Marine  requested  Jones 
to  give  up  the  command  of  the  Ranger  and  wait  in 
France  for  something  better.  This  he  did,  and  at  once 
the  gossips  fell  upon  him  and  declared  that  he  had  been 
driven  from  the  American  service.  Thereupon  the 
commissioners  came  to  his  relief  with  a  certificate  stat 
ing  that  he  had  not.  In  the  midst  of  his  troubles,  a 
copy  of  Father  Abraham's  address,  which  in  France 
bears  the  title  "  La  Science  du  Bonhomme  Richard," 
fell  in  his  way,  and  he  read  that  piece  of  homely  wis 
dom,  "  If  you  would  have  your  business  done,  go ;  if 


268  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

not,  send."  So  well  did  this  seem  to  apply  to  him  that 
he  determined  to  act  on  it,  and,  utterly  ignoring  the 
Minister  of  Marine,  he  wrote  direct  to  the  King,  and 
soon  had  command  of  the  Due  de  Duras.  That  the 
letter  ever  reached  the  King  is  very  uncertain ;  but 
Jones  firmly  believed  it  did,  and,  in  honor  of  the  source 
whence  he  got  his  advice,  he  changed  the  name  of  the 
Due  de  Duras  to  Le  Bonhomme  Eichard. 

Jones  now  set  sail  with  all  the  speed  he  could,  and 
with  him  went  the  Alliance,  commanded  by  the  crazy 
Pierre  Landais,  the  Pallas,  the  Vengeance,  and  the 
Cerf .  Scarcely  was  he  out  of  sight  of  land  when  new 
troubles  began.  The  Cerf  and  the  Vengeance  left  him, 
and  Landais  showed  signs  of  insubordination.  Eut 
Jones  cruised  along,  threatened  Leith,  and,  when  off 
Scarborough,  fell  in  with  the  Baltic  fleet  of  merchant 
men  convoyed  by  the  Countess  of  Scarborough  and  the 
Serapis.  While  the  Bonhomme  Kichard  engaged  the 
Serapis,  the  Pallas  engaged  the  Countess.  But  Lan 
dais,  made  more  crazy  than  ever  by  excitement,  suffered 
the  fleet  to  escape,  while  he  sailed  round  and  round  the 
fighters,  firing  alike  on  friend  and  foe.  Out  of  this 
grew  a  bitter  quarrel  between  Jones  and  Landais.  For 
a  time  it  seemed  that  the  scandal  of  the  affair  would  be 
further  increased  by  a  duel.  But  they  appealed  to 
Franklin,  who  removed  Landais  from  the  Alliance,  and 
put  Jones  in  command.  It  was  a  sorry  day  for  him 
when  he  did,  for  the  Frenchman  now  turned  upon  him, 
and  enjoys  the  distinction  of  being  one  of  the  few  men 
who  ever  got  decidedly  the  better  of  Franklin  in  a  dis 
pute.  Again  and  again  Landais  entreated  to  be  restored 
to  command.  Franklin  as  often  refused.  Then,  storm 
ing  with  rage,  the  Frenchman  hurried  to  L' Orient, 


FRANKLIN  IN  FRANCE.  2G9 

where  lie  met  that  black-hearted  traitor  Arthur  Lee, 
whom  the  Alliance  was  to  carry  home.  What  Landais 
could  not  think  of  to  embarrass  Franklin,  Lee  did,  and 
between  the  two  a  most  shameful  piece  of  business  was 
concocted.  They  stirred  up  a  mutiny  of  the  crew. 
They  persuaded  one  hundred  and  fifty  of  them  to  sign 
a  paper  that  they  would  not  lift  the  anchor  till  their 
prize  money  was  paid,  and  their  lawful  captain,  Pierre 
Landais,  restored;  and  one  day,  while  Jones  was 
ashore,  Landais  boarded  the  Alliance  and  took  com 
mand.  Franklin  now  applied  to  the  French  Govern 
ment,  and  orders  went  down  to  L' Orient  to  blow  the 
Alliance  out  of  the  water  if  she  made  an  attempt  to 
sail.  But  she  did  sail,  and  with  Landais  in  command. 

This  was  in  July,  1780,  and  from  that  time  on  the 
story  of  Franklin's  mission  has  but  little  interest  till 
negotiations  were  begun  for  a  peace.  Concerning  the 
signing  of  that  famous  document  an  idle  story  has  long 
been  current,  and  is  still  believed.  Narrators  of  this 
tale  declare  that  when  the  commissioners  were  all  as 
sembled,  and  were  about  to  affix  their  names  to  the 
treaty,  Franklin  excused  himself  and  left  the  room,  and 
that,  when  he  came  back,  he  was  dressed  in  an  old  and 
almost  threadbare  suit  of  brown.  Nothing  was  said  by 
the  commissioners.  But  their  looks  betrayed  astonish 
ment,  and  Franklin  told  them  that  the  clothes  he  then 
had  on  were  those  he  wore  when  "Wedderburne  so 
shamefully  abused  him  before  the  Privy  Council.  The 
story  is  pure  fable.  It  has  not  a  scrap  of  truth  to  rest 
on.  The  incident  never  occurred.  Franklin  never  as 
serted  it,  and  it  was  during  his  lifetime  denied,  and 
flatly  denied,  by  one  of  the  officials  who  was  present  at 
the  signing. 


270  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

Another  incident  in  his  life  that  is  commonly  mis 
understood  is  the  famous  Strahan  letter ;  the  letter,  we 
mean,  ending,  "You  are  now  my  enemy,  and  I  am 
yours."  We  know  of  no  collection  of  his  works  and 
letters  in  which  this  document  is  not  treated  as  a  piece 
of  spirited  and  sober  writing.  Yet  it  certainly  was  no 
more  than  a  jest.  Had  this  not  been  so,  all  friendship, 
all  correspondence  between  the  two  would  have  ended 
the  day  the  letter  was  received.  But  no  such  falling 
out  took  place,  and  they  went  on  exchanging  letters 
long  after  the  war  had  seriously  begun. 

"With  the  signing  of  the  treaty  the  labors  of  Frank 
lin  in  France  may  be  said  to  have  ended.  He  contin 
ued,  indeed,  to  act  as  Minister  till  the  summer  of  1785, 
when  Jefferson  succeeded  him.  But  old  age  was  upon 
him,  his  infirmities  were  many,  and  his  time  was  chiefly 
given  to  his  friends  and  his  pen.  The  work  which  he 
did  in  France  is,  we  believe,  generally  unknown,  be 
cause  it  has  never  yet  been  fairly  set  forth.  Borrowing 
money,  fitting  out  ships,  buying  clothing,  powder,  and 
guns,  settling  disputes,  writing  despatches,  was  the  least 
important  and  the  least  creditable  part  of  what  he  ac 
complished.  When  he  landed  in  France,  in  1776, 
neither  the  King,  nor  the  Ministers,  nor  the  mass  of  the 
nobility  had  any  heart  in  the  American  cause.  His 
sole  support  was  public  opinion,  the  most  fickle  and 
treacherous  of  all  support.  Yet  he  never  for  a  mo 
ment  lost  it.  By  his  tact,  his  knowledge  of  men  and 
the  ways  of  men,  he  turned  it  from  the  wild  enthusiasm 
of  a  day  into  downright  admiration  for  the  American 
people. 


HOW  THE  BRITISH  LEFT  NEW  YORK. 

IN  March,  1776,  the  British  army,  or,  as  it  was  then 
commonly  called,  the  Ministerial  army,  sailed  from  Bos 
ton,  where  for  months  past  it  had  been  closely  be 
sieged  by  Washington  and  the  Continentals.  Then, 
and  for  a  few  months  thereafter,  no  English  force  was 
on  our  soil.  But  that  the  respite  was  only  for  the  time 
being,  and  that  the  enemy  would  surely  return  and  at 
tack  some  other  seaport,  was  the  belief  of  everybody. 
In  the  opinion  of  Washington,  New  York  city  was  al 
most  certain  to  be  the  place.  Its  splendid  harbor,  its 
geographical  position,  the  easy  connection  which  the 
Hudson  and  Lakes  George  and  Champlain  afforded 
with  Montreal  and  Quebec,  all  tended  to  mark  it  out  as 
a  city  so  desirable  for  the  enemy  to  possess  and  hold  as 
a  base  of  operations,  both  by  land  and  sea,  that  when, 
in  January,  17Y6,  a  rumor  was  current  of  the  intention 
of  Sir  Henry  Clinton  to  lead  an  expedition  against  the 
city  Washington  made  haste  to  send  General  Charles 
Lee,  with  such  troops  as  could  be  gathered  in  Connecti 
cut,  to  put  the  city  in  a  state  of  defence.  And  it  was 
well  he  did,  for  on  the  very  day  Lee  entered  New  York 
by  land  Clinton,  with  his  contingent,  appeared  off  Sandy 
Hook. 

Convinced  that  the  expedition  of  Clinton  would 
271 


272  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

now  be  followed  by  a  much  greater  one  under  Howe, 
Washington,  as  soon  as  the  British  were  out  of  sight  at 
Boston,  began  to  prepare  for  the  transfer  of  the  army 
to  New  York.  Lee  was  replaced  by  Putnam,  who,  in 
April,  was  himself  superseded  by  the  commander-in- 
chief  under  whom  the  work  of  defence  which  had  been 
started  by  Lee  was  hurried  on  with  all  possible  speed, 
and  in  a  little  while  the  water-fronts  of  the  East  and 
North  Rivers,  the  islands  in  the  upper  bay,  the  Nar 
rows,  and  the  heights  of  Brooklyn  were  bristling  with 
redoubts  and  earthworks.  Another  long  line  of  de 
fences  ran  over  the  hills  in  what  is  at  present  the  heart 
of  Brooklyn,  and  was  intended  to  cut  off  the  approach 
of  the  enemy  from  the  lower  bay  by  way  of  Long 
Island. 

For  the  defence  of  these  works  Washington  had 
gathered  some  seventeen  thousand  troops,  of  whom 
ten  thousand  were  ready  for  the  field,  when,  on  the 
twenty-ninth  of  June,  the  long-expected  British  fleet, 
amounting  all  told  to  one  hundred  and  thirty  ships, 
came  in  sight  off  Sandy  Hook.  No  attempt  to  prevent 
a  nearer  approach  was  made,  and  without  any  opposi 
tion  the  soldiers  were  landed  and  went  into  camp  on 
Staten  Island,  where  they  remained  unmolested  until 
August  twenty-second.  By  that  time,  new  arrivals 
having  raised  their  number  to  twenty-five  thousand, 
and  all  offers  of  peace  having  failed,  Howe  determined 
to  begin  the  attack,  and  on  August  twenty-second  sent 
fifteen  thousand  men  across  the  Narrows  to  the  beach 
at  Gravesend.  But  it  was  not  till  August  twenty- 
seventh  that  the  battle  was  fought  and  the  Americans 
driven  within  their  lines  on  the  hills  of  Brooklyn.  By 
a  little  vigorous  action  Howe  might  easily  have  dis- 


HOW  THE  BRITISH  LEFT  NEW  YORK.         273 

lodged  them,  but  he  chose  to  begin  a  regular  siege,  and 
thus  suffered  Washington,  on  the  night  of  August 
twenty-ninth,  to  withdraw  his  army  from  Brooklyn  to 
~New  York. 

Unfavorable  winds  had  so  far  kept  the  fleet  down 
the  bay,  but  on  September  third  a  twenty -gun  ship  and 
some  boats  came  up  and  anchored  in  the  Wallabout. 
More  ships  and  transports  joined  them  on  the  four 
teenth,  and  next  morning  the  little  fleet  moved  up  the 
East  Eiver  to  the  foot  of  what  is  now  Thirty-fourth 
Street,  where  the  British  landed,  and,  driving  the 
Americans  across  the  island  and  up  to  Harlem  Heights, 
took  the  city. 

Thenceforth,  to  the  end  of  the  war,  New  York  was 
in  British  hands.  Thousands  of  the  inhabitants  had  fled 
on  the  approach  of  the  enemy,  and  thousands  more 
went  off  after  the  battle  of  Long  Island,  so  that  not 
more  than  nine  hundred  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  in 
1776.  But  the  place  of  those  who  went  into  exile  was 
gradually  supplied  by  men  and  women  loyal  to  the 
Crown,  who,  as  the  war  progressed,  were  driven  from 
their  homes  in  various  parts  of  the  country  and  sought 
a  refuge  in  New  York.  There  they  were  assigned 
quarters  in  the  deserted  houses  of  the  old  inhabitants, 
and  became,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  a  new  popula 
tion.  It  is  easy  to  imagine  with  what  feelings  these 
people  beheld  the  happy  termination  of  the  war,  and 
realized  that  they  must  soon  give  up  not  only  their  old 
homes  and  property  which  had  been  confiscated  by  the 
States,  but  must  even  quit  their  country.  As  early  as 
November,  1782,  seven  officers  of  the  King's  Rangers 
called  public  attention  to  the  island  of  St.  John.  They 
had  been  there,  the  officers  said,  and  knew  it  to  be 


274  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

the  very  spot  for  a  great  city.  The  harbor  was  safe 
and  spacious,  the  climate  was  delightful,  and  the  idea 
that  in  Canada  men  were  starving  and  freezing  was 
entirely  erroneous.  Game  abounded  all  over  the  isl 
and,  while  in  the  river  were  the  finest  shell-fish  to  be 
found  along  the  whole  coast  from  New  York  to  Labra 
dor. 

To  refugees  not  knowing  where  to  turn  for  an  abid 
ing  place  these  assurances  were  most  comforting,  and, 
with  the  approach  of  spring,  numbers  set  off  for  the 
island.  Other  companies  were  preparing  to  follow, 
when  news  of  peace  reached  this  country,  and  the  exo 
dus  became  general. 

The  provisional  treaty  had  been  signed  at  London 
in  November,  1782,  and,  although  no  time  was  lost  in 
sending  tidings  of  the  event  to  the  United  States,  it  was 
late  in  March,  1783,  when  a  ship  bearing  the  treaty 
reached  Philadelphia,  and  April  before  the  town  ma 
jor  of  New  York  proclaimed  the  news  that  the  war 
was  over  from  the  steps  of  what  was  then  the  City 
Hall. 

By  the  seventh  article  of  the  treaty  his  Britannic 
Majesty  bound  himself  to  withdraw  his  troops  and 
forces  with  all  convenient  speed.  When  the  time  came 
to  put  this  provision  into  execution  only  two  places  on 
our  coast  were  in  possession  of  the  King — the  mouth  of 
the  Penobscot  River  in  Maine  and  the  mouth  of  the 
Hudson  in  New  Jersey  and  New  York.  How  soon 
the  British  left  the  Penobscot  was  a  matter  of  small 
concern.  But  the  evacuation  of  New  York  was  eager 
ly  expected  both  by  the  old  Whig  inhabitants  eager  to 
get  in  and  by  the  Tory  refugees  eager  to  get  out.  To 
depart  was  far  from  easy,  as  the  shipping  was  not  plen- 


HOW  THE  BRITISH  LEFT  NEW  YORK.          2T5 

tiful,  and  the  Tories  within  the  lines  numbered  some 
thirty  thousand  souls. 

The  British  commandant  announced  that  none  but 
refugees  should  be  transferred  by  the  King,  and  defined 
a  refugee  as  a  loyal  subject  of  the  Crown  who  had  lived 
for  twelve  months  past  within  the  limits  of  the  British 
army.  The  first  step,  therefore,  required  of  each  man 
desirous  of  transportation  at  Government  expense  was 
to  prove  residence.  Having  thus  established  his  claim 
to  be  considered  a  refugee,  he  must  have  the  house  he 
occupied  by  consent  of  the  commander  of  the  army  in 
spected  and  pronounced  in  good  repair,  pay  his  rent  for 
the  same  at  the  vestry  office,  satisfy  all  his  creditors, 
and  make  out  a  list  of  the  articles  he  wished  to  take 
with  him.  When  he  had  proved  to  the  satisfaction  of 
the  commissioners  that  each  article  on  the  inventory 
was  really  his  own,  his  name  was  entered  in  a  book  in 
the  office  of  the  adjutant-general,  and  in  time  he  and  his 
family  were  assigned  berths  in  some  ship  or  transport. 

The  first  fleet  sailed  early  in  April  and  bore  away, 
it  is  said,  nine  thousand  refugees.  All  over  the  country 
this  piece  of  news  was  heard  with  delight,  and  many 
Whigs,  believing  the  evacuation  of  the  city  to  be  near 
at  hand,  quit  the  farms  and  villages  where  they  had 
dwelt  for  seven  years  and  hurried  to  New  York  to  take 
possession  of  their  old  homes  again.  Such  as  were  will 
ing  and  able  to  pay  a  quarter's  rent  in  advance  and 
ask  no  questions  were  soon  in  possession  of  their  houses 
and  shops ;  but  such  as  paid  no  rent  found  their  claims 
unheeded,  or  were  forced  once  more  to  take  refuge  with 
the  farmers  without  the  lines.  These  filled  the  Whig 
newspapers  with  their  lamentations  and  with  accounts 
of  the  evil  doings  of  the  Tories. 


276  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

The  city,  they  asserted,  was  in  a  dreadful  condition. 
Every  place  of  worship  except  the  Episcopal  church, 
the  Moravian  church,  and  the  Methodist  meeting-house 
was  desecrated  and  used  for  secular  purposes.  One  was 
a  riding-school,  another  was  a  storehouse,  a  third  was  a 
barracks.  The  plain  duty  of  Sir  Guy  Carleton  was  to 
have  these  buildings  repaired  and  cleaned,  the  pews 
put  back,  and  the  galleries  rebuilt  before  he  left  the 
city.  He  ought  also  to  stop  the  insults  daily  offered  to 
the  American  nag  and  suppress  the  nightly  raids  of  the 
Tories.  Peace  existed.  The  United  States  was  an  in 
dependent  power,  yet  no  ship  captain  dared  to  enter 
New  York  Bay  with  an  American  flag  at  his  mast-head. 
All  within  the  lines  was  supposed  to  be  under  British 
rule,  yet  from  towns  along  the  lines  came  stories  of 
bands  of  Tories  harrying  the  country.  They  would 
come,  it  was  said,  from  Long  Island  and  New  York  in 
the  night,  skulk  about  all  day,  and  at  night  begin  their 
work  of  burning  barns  and  haystacks,  beating  men,  and 
extorting  money. 

But  there  were  in  the  city  thousands  of  men  who 
did  not  come  within  the  definition  of  refugees,  or  if 
they  did,  desired  to  go  to  places  other  than  those  to 
which  the  King  would  send  them.  These  formed  com 
panies  of  their  own  and  went  off  as  fast  as  ships  could 
be  chartered.  Some  one  who  wished  to  go  to  Port 
Eoseway,  or  St.  John,  to  Halifax,  to  Annapolis,  to 
Cumberland,  to  the  Bermudas,  or  to  Fort  Frontenac, 
would  pass  around  a  paper  stating  the  fact  and  asking 
for  signatures.  All  who  signed  bound  themselves  to 
depart  at  the  summons  of  the  leader.  Such  a  sum 
mons  generally  consisted  of  a  notice  in  the  Gazette  that 
a  ship  to  carry  a  certain  company  would  be  ready  on 


HOW  THE  BRITISH  LEFT  NEW  YORK.          277 

such  a  day  at  such  a  dock.  But  as  the  time  of  depart 
ure  drew  near,  the  hearts  of  many  seem  to  have  failed 
them. 

The  notices  then  began  to  contain  warnings  to  be 
prompt.  Now  a  leader  would  assume  a  threatening 
tone  and  after  reminding  his  company  that  it  was  un 
reasonable  to  expect  that  his  ship  would  lie  at  her 
wharf  for  no  other  reason  than  to  oblige  indolent  peo 
ple,  would  bid  them  be  on  board  by  noon  of  a  certain 
day  or  their  places  would  be  given  to  men  from  the 
army.  Another  hoped  his  shipmates  would  not  forget 
to  drink  to  their  wives  and  sweethearts  that  night,  as 
he  expected  them,  one  and  all,  to  be  on  board  the  next 
morning  to  turn  the  windlass  and  have  a  pleasant  sail 
to  Staten  Island. 

All  through  the  summer  the  press  for  passage  went 
on,  till  the  sloops  and  packets  were  not  numerous 
enough  to  carry  off  half  the  refugees  who  wished  to  go. 
In  one  day  as  many  as  5,539  names  were  registered  at 
the  office  of  the  adjutant-general.  During  the  year  the 
records  show  that  29,244  persons — men,  women,  chil 
dren,  and  servants — went  off  never  to  return.  In  gen 
eral  their  place  of  destination  was  Nova  Scotia.  River 
St.  John  was  a  favorite  place,  but  thousands  made  their 
abode  at  Port  Roseway,  at  Annapolis  Royal,  at  Fort 
Cumberland,  or  at  Halifax. 

Each  company  that  departed  was  the  cause  of  re 
newed  rejoicing  to  the  Whigs.  The  mortality  from  in 
dependence  fever,  as  they  nicknamed  the  eagerness  of 
the  Tories  to  leave,  was  said  to  be  rapidly  depopulating 
the  city.  Nova  Scotia  they  called  Nova  Scarcity,  and 
described  it  as  a  land  where  there  was  nine  months 
winter  and  three  months  cold  weather.  When  it  was 


278  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

known  that  one  ship  had  foundered  and  gone  down  off 
Sandy  Hook  with  all  on  board  not  a  word  of  sympathy 
was  littered. 

A  letter  from  New  York  in  the  autumn  declares 
there  was  no  subject  of  conversation  but  the  evacuation 
and  no  business  but  thieving.  Houses  left  vacant  by 
those  who  had  gone  were,  it  seems,  plundered  by 
men  and  women.  Hardly  a  neighborhood  but  some 
foot  passenger  was  stopped  and  robbed  in  the  streets. 
Alarmed  and  enraged,  the  Whigs  who  had  returned  ob 
tained  consent  of  Sir  Guy  Carleton,  and,  forming  them 
selves  into  a  night  watch,  walked  the  streets,  and  in  a 
week  had  fifteen  offenders  in  jail.  No  disturbances  of 
importance  took  place.  A  mob,  one  day  in  October, 
excited  by  the  appearance  of  an  American  flag  at  the 
mast-head  of  a  vessel,  boarded  her,  tore  it  down,  and 
carried  it  in  triumph  about  the  streets.  On  another  oc 
casion  the  inspector  of  markets  pulled  the  bell  off  the 
Fly  Market  and  carried  it  home,  declaring  that  the  rebels 
should  never  have  the  use  of  it.  But  Carleton  interfered, 
satisfied  the  complaints  of  the  ship  captain,  and  made 
the  inspector  replace  the  bell. 

At  last,  on  November  twelfth,  Sir  Guy  Carleton 
notified  Washington  that  the  outposts  north  of  Mc- 
Gowan's  Pass  (now  near  the  northeastern  entrance  to 
Central  Park)  and  at  Hempstead,  Long  Island,  would 
be  withdrawn  on  November  twenty -first ;  that  Brook 
lyn  and  New  York  would  be  evacuated  on  the  twenty- 
second,  and  Paulus  Hook  (now  Jersey  City)  and  Staten 
Island  as  soon  as  possible.  But  a  week  later  the  order 
was  changed,  and  Washington  informed  that  New 
York  would  be  evacuated  November  twenty-fifth  at 
noon,  and  that  Staten  Island  would  be  retained  until 


HOW  THE  BRITISH  LEFT  NEW  YORK.         279 

transports  could  be  secured  to  carry  away  the  sixty -five 
hundred  troops  remaining. 

On  November  nineteenth,  accordingly,  Washington 
and  Knox  and  Governor  Clinton  and  their  staffs  came 
down  to  Day's  Tavern,  a  public  house  near  what  is  at 
present  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-fifth  Street  and 
Eighth  Avenue.  A  small  detachment  of  troops  had 
already  gone  on  to  McGowan's  Pass  where,  on  the 
twenty -fourth,  orders  were  issued  to  the  soldiers  to  be 
ready  to  march  at  eight  next  day. 

Meanwhile  the  returned  Whigs  in  the  city  had 
gathered  at  the  famous  tavern  of  Mr.  Cape,  a  site  now 
covered  by  the  Boreel  Building,  and  after  framing  reso 
lutions  asking  everybody,  Whig  or  Tory,  who  had  lived 
in  the  city  during  the  war  to  leave,  and  pledging  them 
selves  to  maintain  order,  chose  a  committee  to  select  a 
badge  for  Evacuation  Day.  The  committee  selected  a 
cockade  of  black  and  white  ribbon  to  be  worn  on  the 
left  breast  and  a  sprig  of  laurel  in  the  hat,  and  enjoined 
all  true  Whigs  to  appear  thus  decorated  at  the  Bull's 
Head  Tavern  on  the  morning  of  the  twenty-second,  the 
day  first  appointed  by  Carleton. 

Change  of  date  made  a  slight  change  of  plan.  Citi 
zens  on  horseback  were  now  requested  to  assemble  at 
the  Bowling  Green,  and  citizens  on  foot  at  the  Tea 
Water  Pump.  After  General  Knox  with  the  troops 
had  taken  possession  of  the  city  the  citizens  were  to  go 
back  with  him  and  meet  Washington  and  Clinton  at 
the  Bull's  Head. 

The  programme  was  fully  carried  out.     Early  on 

the  twenty-fifth  the  troops  broke  camp  at  McGowan's 

Pass,  marched  down  the  old  Post  Koad  to  the  Bowery, 

and  down  the  Bowery  to  the  barricade,  halted  there  till 

19 


280  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

the  last  British  guard  was  withdrawn,  and  then  went  on 
through  Chatham  Street  and  Pearl  Street  and  Wall 
Street  to  Broadway,  and  drew  up  in  front  of  Mr.  Cape's 
tavern.  Then  a  detachment  went  off  to  old  Fort 
George  to  raise  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  only  to  find  the 
staff  soaped  and  the  halyards  missing.  A  sailor  was 
found,  however,  who  climbed  the  pole  by  nailing  on 
cleats  as  he  went,  and  having  reeved  it,  had  his  pockets 
filled  with  "  bits  "  and  pennies  by  the  crowd.  The  flag 
was  then  raised  and  saluted  with  thirteen  guns.  The 
military  ceremony  over,  the  civic  procession  began,  and 
the  General  and  Governor,  repairing  to  the  Bull's  Head, 
were  escorted  to  their  lodgings  by  a  grateful  people. 

Though  the  city  was  evacuated  on  the  twenty-fifth, 
it  was  not  until  December  third  that  the  British  flag 

o 

was  drawn  down  at  Staten  Island,  and  not  till  Decem 
ber  fifth  did  Admiral  Digby  with  the  last  of  the  fleet 
sail  down  the  lower  bay  and  put  to  sea. 


THE   STRUGGLE  FOR  TERRITORY. 

THE  story  of  the  claims  of  European  nations  to  so 
much  of  the  territory  of  North  America  as  now  lies 
within  the  limits  of  the  United  States  goes  back  to  the 
time  when  Henry  of  Portugal  was  urging  forward 
those  voyages  of  exploration  along  the  coast  of  Africa 
which  led  to  the  discovery  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 
and  a  new  route  to  India.  That  no  other  people  might 
rob  him  of  the  fruit  of  his  labors  he  procured  a  series 
of  Papal  Bulls  granting  to  him  all  the  lands  his  sub 
jects  should  discover  from  Cape  ISTon  to  India.  The 
right  of  the  Pope  to  thus  dispose  of  heathen  lands  and 
heathen  people  was  not  at  that  day  even  doubted,  and 
Prince  Henry  was  left  in  the  undisturbed  enjoyment 
of  his  monopoly  till  Columbus,  sailing  westward,  dis 
covered  the  Antilles.  Then  Spain  in  turn  applied  for 
a  Papal  Bull,  and  Alexander  YI  drew  a  north  and 
south  line  one  hundred  leagues  west  of  the  Azores  and 
confirmed  Spain  in  the  possession  of  every  country  her 
navigators  might  find  to  the  west  of  it.  In  this  for  a 
time  Portugal  refused  to  concur.  But  on  the  sixth  of 
June,  1494,  a  treaty  was  made  with  Spain,  the  line 
drawn  by  Alexander  was  then  moved  to  three  hundred 
and  seventy  leagues  west  of  Cape  de  Yerd,  and  the 
earliest  title  of  Europeans  to  America  was  established. 

281 


282  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

Tims  made  secure  in  the  possession  of  her  discoveries, 
the  subjects  of  Spain  pushed  boldly  out  into  the  Carib 
bean  Sea  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  It  was  under  the 
flag  of  Spain  that  one  hardy  mariner  discovered  and 
named  Florida;  that  another  explored  the  peninsula 
from  Key  West  to  Pensacola ;  that  a  third  went  round 
the  northern  shore  of  the  gulf  to  Mexico  and  became 
the  first  of  Europeans  to  behold  the  Mississippi.  It 
was  under  her  flag  that  Ayllon  sailed  along  the  coast  of 
Georgia  and  South  Carolina;  that  De  Soto  marched 
across  the  country  from  Tampa  Bay  to  the  Mississippi, 
and  Coronado  from  the  Gulf  of  California  to  Kansas. 

During  all  these  years  the  validity  of  the  Spanish 
claims  was  never  once  seriously  disputed.  Cabot  was 
indeed  commissioned  to  discover  "  countries  which  were 
before  that  time  unknown  to  Christian  princes."  But 
his  discoveries  were  so  plainly  within  the  grant  to 
Spain  that  Henry  VII  never  for  a  moment  thought  of 
asserting  sovereignty  over  them.  Yerrazzano  in  1524 
did  indeed  carry  the  French  flag  along  the  coast  from 
Georgia  to  Newfoundland,  and  Cartier  and  De  Roche 
at  a  later  day  explored  the  Gulf  and  River  St.  Law 
rence,  and  even  took  possession  of  the  country  in  the 
name  of  France.  But  at  both  these  times  a  bloody  war 
was  raging  between  France  and  Spain,  and  the  inva 
sion  and  seizure  of  Spanish  territory  in  the  New  World 
was  as  proper  an  act  for  a  Catholic  king  as  the  invasion 
and  seizure  of  Spanish  territory  in  the  Old  World,  and 
the  attempted  settlements  were  in  no  sense  a  question 
ing  of  her  title. 

Her  title,  indeed,  was  undisputed  till  Elizabeth  was 
on  the  throne  of  England,  till  Protestantism  was  firmly 
established,  and  till  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  and  Sir  Wai- 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  TERRITORY.  283 

ter  Raleigh  set  forth  to  "  discover  and  search  such  re 
mote  heathen  and  barbarous  lands,  not  actually  possessed 
of  any  Christian  prince,  as  to  them  shall  seem  good." 
Then  was  set  up  the  Protestant  doctrine  that  the  Pope 
could  not  dispose  of  heathen  lands,  and  that  all  such 
countries  belong  to  the  prince  whose  subjects  not  merely 
discover  but  occupy  them.  The  dispute  thus  begun  as 
to  the  ownership  of  America  raged  with  violence  for 
nearly  a  century  more,  till  by  the  treaty  of  16  TO  Spain 
"  agreed  that  the  King  of  Great  Britain  and  his  sub 
jects  should  remain  in  possession  of  what  they  then 
possessed  in  America,"  and  the  Protestant  principle  of 
discovery  and  occupation  as  the  basis  of  title  was  finally 
established. 

By  that  time  the  British  were  in  possession  of  the 
whole  Atlantic  coast  from  Maine  to  Georgia ;  had  al 
ready  marked  out  the  bounds  of  Massachusetts  and 
Connecticut,  Rhode  Island  and  New  York,  New  Jer 
sey,  Maryland,  Virginia,  and  the  Carolinas,  and  had 
already  begun  that  movement  westward  which  in  an 
other  half  century  brought  them  to  the  foot  of  the 
Alleghanies. 

"While  the  English  were  thus  engaged  on  the  At 
lantic  slope  the  French  were  equally  busy  exploring 
that  part  of  our  country  which  lies  between  the  Missis 
sippi  and  the  Blue  Ridge,  the  Great  Lakes  and  the 
Gulf.  Far  back  in  the  sixteenth  century  Cartier  ex 
plored  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  led  out  a  colony  to  settle 
on  its  banks.  But  the  attempt  failed,  the  colonists 
perished,  and  for  sixty  years  the  Indians  seldom  saw  a 
white  man  among  them.  At  last,  in  1608,  Samuel 
Champlain  repeated  the  attempt,  led  a  band  of  hardy 
adventurers  to  the  Isle  of  Orleans,  and  hard  by,  on  the 


284:  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

high  bluffs  which  look  down  on  the  river  and  the  island, 
marked  out  the  city  of  Quebec.  The  colonists  found 
themselves  far  from  home,  in  a  cheerless  climate,  in  a 
vast  wilderness,  and  in  the  midst  of  tribes  of  red  men 
who  beheld  the  little  hamlet  with  no  friendly  eye.  So 
much  depended  on  the  good-will  of  the  Indians  that 
Champlain  left  nothing  undone  to  gain  it.  He  made 
them  presents,  joined  them  in  an  alliance,  and  went 
with  them  on  the  war-path  to  the  shores  of  that  beauti 
ful  sheet  of  water  which  still  bears  his  name.  There  a 
great  battle  was  fought.  The  arms  and  the  courage  of 
the  French  prevailed,  and  a  victory  full  of  consequences 
to  the  white  men  was  won.  For  three  generations  after 
the  battle  every  Algonkin  was  the  steady  friend,  and 
every  Iroquois  the  implacable  enemy,  of  the  French ; 
and  to  this  more  than  to  anything  else  is  to  be  ascribed 
the  exploration  and  settlement  of  the  Northwest.  The 
Iroquois  were  powerful  through  all  New  York.  The 
Algonkins  ruled  along  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  chain 
of  lakes.  When,  therefore,  the  French  missionaries 
began  their  search  for  proselytes  and  furs  they  shunned 
the  Iroquois  and  travelled  westward  among  the  tribes 
of  the  Algonkin  nations. 

Le  Caron,  a  Franciscan,  went  first,  and  for  ten  years 
toiled  among  the  Indians  on  the  Niagara  and  the  shores 
of  Lake  Huron.  Brebeuf  and  Daniel  went  next,  reached 
Sault  Ste.  Marie,  and  founded  at  St.  Ignatius,  St.  Louis, 
and  St.  Joseph,  villages  of  Christian  Huron.  But  the 
Iroquois  overwhelmed  them,  destroyed  the  villages,  and 
burned  the  missionaries  at  the  stake.  Mesnard  went 
yet  farther  to  the  west,  saw  the  waters  of  Lake  Superior, 
paddled  in  a  canoe  along  its  southern  shores,  built  a 
church  at  St.  Theresa  Bay,  and  disappeared  forever  at 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  TERRITORY.  285 

the  portage  of  Keweenaw.  Long  afterward  his  breviary 
and  his  cassock  were  found  among  the  Sioux.  Allouez 
followed  him,  explored  both  shores  of  the  lake,  and  at 
the  western  end  met  the  Sioux  and  heard  for  the  first 
time  of  the  great  river  the  Indians  called  the  Messipi. 
But  all  the  glory  of  its  exploration  belongs  to  Mar- 
quette. 

He  set  out.  in  May,  1673,  from  Mackinaw,  with  six 
companions,  in  two  birch  canoes,  paddled  down  the 
lake  to  Green  Bay,  entered  Fox  River,  and  dragging 
the  boats  through  its  boiling  rapids,  came  to  a  village 
where  lived  the  Miamis  and  the  Kickapoos.  There 
Allouez  had  preached  and  taught.  But  beyond  it  no 
white  man  had  ever  gone.  The  Indians  would  have 
dissuaded  them,  told  them  of  warriors  who  would  cut 
off  their  heads,  of  monsters  who  would  swallow  their 
canoes,  and  of  a  demon  who  shut  the  way  and  drowned 
in  the  waters  that  seethed  about  him  all  who  came 
within  his  reach.  But  the  zeal  of  Marquette  burned 
fiercely,  and  on  the  tenth  of  June,  1673,  he  led  his  little 
band,  with  two  Indian  guides,  over  the  swamps  and 
marshes  that  separated  the  village  from  a  river  which 
the  guides  assured  him  flowed  into  the  Messipi.  This 
westward-flowing  river  he  called  the  Ouisconsin,  and 
there  the  guides  left  him,  as  he  says,  "  alone,  amid  that 
unknown  country,  in  the  hands  of  G-od." 

"With  prayers  to  the  mother  of  Jesus,  the  little  band 
shoved  their  canoes  boldly  out  upon  the  river,  and  for 
seven  days  floated  slowly  downward  toward  the  Missis 
sippi.  The  stillness  of  the  Ouisconsin  River,  now 
crowded  with  villages  and  towns,  seemed  oppressive. 
Never  before  had  they  seen  such  buffalo,  such  deer, 
such  stags.  The  sand-bars  that  stopped  their  way,  the 


286  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

innumerable  islands  covered  with  vines  and  groves, 
and  bordered  with  pleasant  slopes,  the  paroquets  that 
screamed  in  the  trees,  the  "  wingless  swans  "  that  strutted 
on  the  banks,  the  great  fish  that  they  feared  would  dash 
their  canoes  to  pieces,  filled  them  with  indescribable 
awe.  At  last,  on  the  seventeenth  of  June,  they  floated 
out  on  the  bosom  of  the  Mississippi,  and  turned  their 
canoes  to  the  south.  Four  days  they  followed  the  bends 
and  twists  of  the  river,  and  on  the  twenty-first  of  the 
month  saw  in  the  mud  of  the  western  bank  footprints, 
and  a  path  that  disappeared  in  a  meadow.  Leaving  the 
canoes  with  their  companions  on  the  river,  Marquette 
and  Joliet  took  the  path  through  the  meadows  to  a 
cluster  of  Indian  villages,  on  the  shore  of  what  is  now 
believed  to  be  the  River  Des  Moines.  There  they 
feasted,  spent  the  night,  and  went  back  next  morning 
to  their  followers,  and,  while  the  savages  crowded  the 
banks  of  the  Mississippi,  resumed  their  journey.  They 
floated  down  the  stream,  past  the  rocks  whereon  were 
painted  the  monsters  of  which  they  had  heard  so  much, 
past  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri,  past  the  Ohio,  and 
stopped  not  far  from  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas,  where 
the  voyage  ended,  and  whence  the  party  went  slowly 
back  to  the  lakes. 

Taking  up  the  work  where  Marquette  left  it,  La 
Salle,  in  1682,  explored  the  Mississippi  to  its  mouth, 
and  standing  on  the  shores  of  the  Mexican  Gulf,  with 
a  clod  of  earth  in  one  hand  and  his  sword  in  the  other, 
formally  took  possession  of  the  country  for  the  King  of 
France,  and  named  it  Louisiana.  Two  years  later,  when 
seeking  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  by  sea,  he  reached 
the  bay  of  Matagorda,  and  founded  Fort  St.  Louis  on 
the  coast  of  Texas.  By  the  custom  of  nations,  the  dis- 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  TERRITORY.  287 

co very  and  exploration  of  the  Mississippi  gave  to  France 
all  the  country  that  river  drained.  The  discovery  of  the 
Texas  coast  gave  to  her  all  the  country  drained  by  the 
rivers  of  that  coast,  while  the  establishment  of  Fort  St. 
Louis  carried  her  claim  to  the  coast  southward  to  a  point 
midway  between  Fort  St.  Louis  and  the  nearest  Spanish 
post.  The  nearest  Spanish  post  was  in  the  Province  of 
Paduco.  On  the  rude  maps  of  the  eighteenth  century 
Louisiana,  therefore,  extends  from  the  Rio  Grande  to 
the  Mobile,  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  the  country 
beyond  the  source  of  the  Mississippi  River,  and  from 
the  Smoky  Mountains  to  the  unknown  regions  of  the 
"West.  To  the  claim  of  discovery  and  the  claim  of  ex 
ploration  was  soon  added  a  third — that  of  settlement ; 
and,  before  the  first  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century 
ended,  Biloxi  had  been  founded,  and  Mobile ;  the  forts 
Rosalie,  Toulouse  and  Tombigbee,  Natchitoches  and 
Assumption,  Chartres  and  Cahokia  erected,  and  the 
streets  and  ramparts  of  New  Orleans  marked  out  by 
De  la  Tour. 

Thus  firmly  in  possession  of  the  Mississippi  on  the 
south  and  holding  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  lakes  on 
the  north,  the  French  began  to  overrun  the  country ; 
built  Fort  Lake  Pepin,  Fort  Yincent,  Niagara,  Detroit, 
Toronto,  Ticonderoga,  and  Crown  Point ;  strengthened 
their  settlements  on  the  Mississippi  and  the  Illinois; 
took  formal  possession  of  the  valley  of  the  Ohio ;  built 
Presqu'  Isle  and  Le  Boeuf ,  and  Yenango,  and,  when  the 
second  quarter  of  the  century  ended,  at  the  gateway  of 
the  Ohio  River,  came  face  to  face  with  the  English. 

The  conflict  which  followed  has  come  down  in  his 
tory  as  the  French  and  Indian  "War.  It  ought  to  have 
been  called  the  war  for  possession,  for  when  it  was 


288  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

over,  French  power  in  America  was  gone.  By  the 
treaty  of  November  third,  1762,  France  gave  to  Eng 
land  Nova  Scotia,  Acadia,  Cape  Breton,  Canada,  all  the 
islands  and  all  the  coasts  of  the  Gulf  and  River  St. 
Lawrence,  and  divided  her  possessions  in  what  is  now 
our  country  into  two  parts.  The  line  of  partition  ran 
down  the  Mississippi  River  from  its  source  to  the  River 
Iberville,  through  the  Iberville  to  Lake  Maurepas,  and 
along  the  north  shore  of  Lakes  Maurepas  and  Pontchar- 
train  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  All  to  the  east  she  gave 
to  England ;  all  to  the  west  she  gave  to  Spain. 

The  French  cession  to  Spain  was  in  the  nature  of 
compensation,  for  she  too  had  taken  part  in  the  war, 
had  been  forced  to  surrender  Havana  to  the  English, 
and  to  get  it  back  had  given  Florida  in  exchange.  As 
indemnity  for  the  loss  of  Florida,  France  made  over  to 
Spain  the  Island  of  Orleans  and  all  the  region  west  of 
the  Mississippi. 

Thus  were  the  French  expelled  from  North  America. 
Thus  were  the  possessions  of  Spain  enlarged.  Thus 
was  our  country  divided  between  two  contestants,  and 
the  first  stage  in  the  struggle  for  possession  closed. 
But  the  first  was  scarcely  over  when  the  second  began. 
In  less  than  twelve  years  after  the  signing  of  the  Treaty 
of  Paris  the  Revolution  opened,  the  hereditary  enemies 
of  England  joined  us,  and  in  a  little  while  Great  Britain, 
France,  Spain,  and  the  United  States  were  all  four  con 
tending  for  the  possession  of  the  Mississippi  Valley. 
The  United  States,  standing  by  the  ancient  colonial 
charters,  demanded  as  her  boundary  the  St.  John 
River,  the  Quebec  line  from  the  highlands  of  Maine 
to  Lake  Nipissing,  a  right  line  to  the  source  of  the  Mis 
sissippi,  the  Mississippi  to  thirty-one  degrees,  eastward 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  TERRITORY.  289 

along  that  parallel  to  the  Appalachicola,  down  the  Ap- 
palachicola  to  the  Flint,  eastward  to  the  head  waters  of 
the  St.  Mary's,  and  down  the  St.  Mary's  to  the  sea.  But 
of  such  boundaries  Spain  would  hear  nothing.  Her 
policy  had  always  been  to  shut  out  rival  powers  from 
the  waters  of  the  Gulf.  She  had  therefore  gone  into 
the  war  for  the  sole  purpose  of  recovering  Florida,  and 
had  succeeded  beyond  her  expectations.  Galvez,  who 
governed  Louisiana,  had  led  an  expedition  into  West 
Florida  and  had  captured  the  British  posts  at  Baton 
Eouge  and  Natchez,  at  Pensacola  and  Mobile.  Her 
commandant  at  St.  Louis  had,  in  the  dead  of  winter, 
penetrated  into  the  heart  of  the  Northwest,  had  seized 
the  English  post  of  Fort  St.  Joseph,  had  taken  formal 
possession  of  the  country  it  controlled,  had  displayed 
the  Spanish  standard,  and  had  carried  off  the  English 
colors  as  a  title  deed.  That  Spain  would  abandon  the 
fruits  of  her  victories  without  a  struggle  was  not  to  be 
expected,  and  when  the  Commissioners  met  at  Paris  to 
frame  a  treaty  of  peace  the  struggle  began. 

To  the  claim  for  territory  set  up  by  the  United  States, 
the  Spanish  Ambassador  replied  that  the  country  beyond 
the  mountains  had  never  belonged  to  the  States  while 
colonies ;  that  it  had  never  even  been  claimed  by  them ; 
that  previous  to  the  Treaty  of  Paris  it  had  belonged 
to  France,  and  that  after  the  treaty  it  remained  a  dis 
tinct  part  of  the  dominion  of  Great  Britain,  because  by 
a  proclamation  in  1763  King  George  had  drawn  a  line 
around  the  headwaters  of  the  rivers  flowing  into  the 
Atlantic,  had  set  apart  the  country  between  it  and  the 
Mississippi  River  for  the  Indians,  and  had  forbidden  his 
subjects  to  settle  there ;  and  that  now,  in  consequence 
of  the  conquests  of  Spain  in  West  Florida,  on  the 


290  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

Mississippi,  and  on  the  Illinois,  the  West  belonged  to 
Spain.  He  proposed,  therefore,  in  the  name  of  his 
Catholic  Majesty,  a  western  boundary  for  the  United 
States,  and  was  good  enough  to  trace  it  in  red  ink  on  a 
copy  of  the  rude  map  the  Commissioners  had  before 
them.  Running  up  the  Flint  River,  the  line  followed 
the  mountains  to  the  waters  of  the  Great  Kanawha, 
passed  down  the  Kanawha  to  the  Ohio,  skirted  Penn 
sylvania,  and  passed  along  the  south  shore  of  the  lakes 
to  the  Mississippi.  The  claim  was  both  extravagant 
and  absurd.  But,  extravagant  as  it  was,  the  French 
Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  to  the  amazement  of  the 
American  Commissioners,  was  far  from  disapproving  it. 
This  made  it  serious  for  the  instructions  given  to  Dr. 
Franklin,  Mr.  Adams  and  Mr.  Jay  were  to  undertake 
nothing  in  the  negotiations  for  peace  without  the  knowl 
edge  and  concurrence  of  France.  Yergennes  admitted 
that  the  conquests  of  Spain  did  not  justify  her  in  claim 
ing  the  whole  eastern  slope  of  the  Mississippi  Yalley. 
But  he  asserted,  and  asserted  positively,  that  the  claim  of 
the  United  States  derived  no  support  from  anything  in 
their  colonial  history,  and  proposed  a  compromise.  The 
United  States  should  be  bounded  on  the  west  by  the 
Chattahoochee,  the  mountains,  and  a  line  midway 
through  the  present  State  of  Ohio.  All  west  of  this 
line  and  north  of  the  Ohio  River  was  to  be  left  with 
England.  What  is  now  comprised  in  Kentucky,  in 
Tennessee,  in  Alabama,  and  Mississippi,  north  of  thirty- 
one  degrees,  was  to  be  Indian  Territory  under  the  pro 
tection  of  Spain  and  the  United  States. 

Widely  as  these  two  propositions  differed,  in  some 
respects  they  agreed  entirely  in  this :  that  the  United 
States  should  own  no  territory  beyond  the  mountains. 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  TERRITORY.  291 

But  the  American  Commissioners,  determined  that  she 
should,  broke  through  their  instructions,  and,  without 
the  knowledge  of  France,  signed  the  preliminary  treaty 
of  peace  in  November,  1782.  When  the  treaty,  duly 
signed  and  sealed,  was  laid  before  the  French  Minister, 
he  was  astonished  and  deeply  mortified. 

He  stormed,  he  raged,  he  bitterly  reproached  Frank 
lin  and  his  associates  for  the  course  they  had  taken.  Nay, 
even  Congress  and  the  Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs 
were  for  a  time  disposed  to  blame  the  commissioner. 
But  the  deed  was  done,  the  West  was  saved ;  and  when 
the  definitive  treaty  was  signed,  in  September,  1783, 
the  western  limit  of  the  United  States  was  irrevocably 
fixed  at  the  Mississippi.  The  southern  boundary  was 
the  thirty-first  degree  of  latitude  from  the  Mississippi  to 
the  Appalachicola,  down  that  river  to  the  Flint,  eastward 
to  the  St.  Mary's  River,  and  by  it  to  the  sea.  But  a 
secret  article  declared  that  if  Great  Britain,  when  she 
made  peace  with  Spain,  recovered  West  Florida,  the 
south  boundary  of  the  United  States  should  be  the  line 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Yazoo  Eiver  due  east  to  the 
Appalachicola — a  line  which  since  1764  had  been  the 
north  boundary  of  West  Florida.  Great  Britain  did 
not  recover  West  Florida.  Indeed,  by  a  treaty  signed 
the  same  day  on  which  she  signed  that  with  the  United 
States  she  ceded  West  Florida  to  Spain.  As  no  bound 
ary  was  given,  Spain  claimed  it  with  the  boundary  it 
had  when  the  Eevolution  opened — that  is,  with  the  line 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Yazoo  River.  When,  therefore, 
his  Catholic  Majesty  heard  of  the  secret  article,  he 
promptly  informed  Congress  that  no  treaty  between  the 
United  States  and  England  could  settle  the  boundary 
between  the  United  States  and  Spain ;  that  West  Flor- 


292  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

Ida,  with  the  bounds  it  had  in  1775,  was  his ;  and  that 
until  such  time  as  the  two  Governments  should  agree 
on  the  limits  of  Louisiana  and  the  Floridas  he  would 
assert  his  territorial  claims  and  maintain  his  jurisdiction 
over  the  river.  The  threat  was  no  idle  one.  The  posts 
which  she  had  taken  from  England  during  the  war,  and 
which  lay  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States,  she 
held  and  fortified,  and  for  twelve  years  the  Spanish  flag 
waved  over  Baton  Rouge  and  Natchez,  She  built  new 
forts ;  she  made  treaties  with  the  Indians,  and  suffered 
no  American  ships  to  enter  or  go  out  of  the  Mississippi. 
Then  began  yet  another  phase  of  the  struggle  for  the 
possession  of  the  valley. 

On  the  November  day,  1782,  when  peace  was  made 
with  Great  Britain  the  population  of  the  United  States 
did  not  amount  to  three  millions  of  souls,  and  had  but 
just  begun  to  push  through  the  mountains  into  West 
Virginia  and  Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  Few  in  num 
ber,  scattered  along  the  banks  of  the  Ohio  and  the 
streams  flowing  into  the  Ohio,  joined  to  the  East  by 
no  ties,  commercial  or  political — nay,  parted  from  it  by 
the  mountains  and  the  lack  of  decent  means  of  com 
munication — having  no  channel  by  which  to  reach  the 
markets  of  the  world  save  the  Mississippi  River,  they 
seemed  destined  by  Nature  to  become  some  day  an  in 
dependent  people. 

Nor  could  the  Confederation,  while  it  lasted,  do 
anything  to  hinder  such  a  separation.  A  few  states 
men  of  the  Virginia  school  were  far-sighted  enough  to 
see  the  vast  importance  of  protecting  American  inter 
ests  in  the  Mississippi  Yalley.  But  the  East  was  ready 
enough  to  sacrifice  the  interests  of  the  "West ;  and  in 
1786,  when  Spain  demanded  as  the  price  of  a  treaty  of 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  TERRITORY.  293 

commerce  an  agreement  that  the  citizens  of  the  United 
States  should  not  navigate  the  Mississippi  for  twenty- 
five  years,  John  Jay,  the  Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs 
to  Congress,  readily  consented.  This  price,  however, 
was  never  paid.  The  protests  of  Virginia  and  the  sol 
emn  threats  of  the  people  of  Kentucky  forced  Congress 
to  pause,  and  we  had  no  commercial  relation,  no  defini 
tion  of  bounds,  no  treaty  with  Spain,  till  1796. 

Long  before  that  time,  however,  the  movement  of 
our  population  westward  began,  and  the  people  came 
pouring  over  the  mountains  in  three  great  streams. 
"With  the  increase  of  population  came  an  increase  of 
discontent.  The  prohibition  of  the  navigation  of  the 
Mississippi  grew  every  year  more  and  more  galling 
till,  when  the  French  Revolution  opened  the  markets  of 
the  West  Indies  to  neutrals,  and  produced  an  immense 
demand  for  flour,  pork,  and  bacon — the  staples  of  the 
West — it  became  unbearable,  and  the  old  spirit  of  dis 
content  grew  rapidly  to  a  'spirit  of  revolution  which 
every  bold,  daring,  and  reckless  man  labored  hard  to 
fan  into  open  insurrection.  At  one  time  it  seemed  not 
unlikely  that  the  people  of  the  valley  would  separate 
from  the  States  and  form  a  union  with  the  Spaniards. 
At  another  time  it  seemed  quite  probable  that  they 
would  leave  the  Union,  drive  out  the  Spaniards,  seize 
Florida  and  Louisiana,  and  form  a  new  republic  in  the 
Mississippi  Yalley.  Now  it  was  G-eorge  Rogers  Clark 
organizing  an  expedition  to  seize  Natchez,  Baton  Rouge, 
New  Orleans.  Now  it  was  the  French  Minister  Genet 
sending  out  agents  to  stir  up  hatred  of  the  Spaniards  in 
the  West  and  enlist  troops  to  attack  them.  Now  it  was 
Senator  William  Blount,  of  Tennessee,  expelled  from 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States  for  trying  to  induce 


294  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

Great  Britain  to  send  a  fleet  to  close  the  Mississippi 
while  he  led  an  army  down  the  river  from  Canada  and 
attacked  Louisiana.  Now  it  was  James  Wilkinson  in 
triguing  with  the  Spanish  Intendant  and,  under  threats 
of  leading  an  army  from  Kentucky,  obtaining  commer 
cial  concessions  for  himself.  Rascality,  corruption,  in 
trigue  were  on  every  hand.  Spanish  agents  constantly 
travelled  on  various  errands  up  and  down  the  Ohio; 
American  speculators  as  constantly  visited  New  Orleans. 

It  was  a  due  sense  of  the  dangers  which  thus  threat 
ened  the  two  Governments,  but  chiefly  a  fear  of  Eng 
lish  conquest,  that  in  1796  induced  Spam  to  make  her 
first  treaty  with  the  United  States.  By  that  treaty  she 
accepted  thirty-one  degrees  from  the  Mississippi  to  the 
Appalachicola  as  the  south  boundary  of  the  United 
States,  and  withdrew  her  troops  from  the  posts  she  had 
so  long  held  on  the  east  bank  of  the  river.  But  as  she 
still  owned  both  banks  of  the  Mississippi  below  thirty- 
one  degrees,  she  would  not  open  it  for  navigation.  She 
would  merely  suffer  citizens  of  the  United  States  for 
three  years  to  come  to  deposit  merchandise  at  New  Or 
leans,  and,  after  paying  enormous  storage  duty,  reship 
them  when  they  pleased. 

Meagre  as  these  concessions  were,  they  served  to 
alarm  the  two  foremost  men  in  France — Napoleon 
Bonaparte  and  Talleyrand,  at  that  time  Minister  for 
Foreign  Affairs  to  the  Directory.  No  sooner  did  he 
hear  of  the  treaty  than  he  wrote  to  the  French  Minister 
resident  in  Spain  a  letter  in  which  is  fully  portrayed 
the  policy  of  France  toward  America  for  many  years  to 
come. 

"The  court  of  Madrid,"  said  Talleyrand,  "ever 
blind  to  its  own  interests  and  never  docile  to  the  les- 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  TERRITORY.  295 

sons  of  experience,  has  again  quite  recently  adopted  a 
measure  which  cannot  fail  to  produce  the  worst  effects 
upon  its  political  existence  and  on  the  preservation  of 
its  colonies.  The  United  States  have  been  put  in  pos 
session  of  the  forts  situated  along  the  Mississippi  which 
the  Spaniards  had  occupied  as  posts  essential  to  arrest 
the  progress  of  the  Americans  in  those  countries." 
The  Americans,  he  then  went  on  to  say,  were  deter 
mined  to  rule  America.  This  ambition  could  only  be 
stopped  "  by  shutting  them  up  within  the  limits  which 
Nature  seems  to  have  traced  for  them."  As  Spain 
could  not  do  this,  she  would  do  well  to  cede  Florida  and 
Louisiana  to  France,  in  order  that  the  Kepublic  might 
do  it  for  her. 

The  rupture  between  the  United  States  and  France 
followed  immediately,  and  Talleyrand  fell  from  power 
on  July  twentieth,  1^99.  But  in  October  Napoleon  re 
turned  from  Egypt,  and  November  ninth,  or,  as  the  day 
was  called  in  the  French  calendar,  eighteenth  Brumaire, 
executed  the  famous  coup  d'etat.  Talleyrand  was  al 
most  immediately  recalled,  the  old  policy  of  shutting 
up  America  within  the  limits  assigned  to  her  by  Na 
ture  was  resumed,  and  in  July,  1800,  instructions  were 
sent  to  the  French  Minister  at  Madrid  to  begin  the 
negotiations  which  ended  in  the  treaty  of  retrocession. 
He  was  to  demand  from  Spain  the  provinces  of  Louis 
iana,  East  Florida,  West  Florida,  and  six  seventy-four- 
gun  frigates.  He  was  to  offer  in  return  a  piece  of 
European  territory  for  the  young  Duke  and  Duchess  of 
Palma.  The  Duchess  of  Palma  was  the  daughter  of 
Charles  IY  of  Spain ;  the  Duke  was  his  nephew.  The 
offer  was  most  tempting,  and,  backed  up  by  the  wishes 
of  the  Queen  and  her  daughter,  it  was  accepted,  a  bar- 
20 


296  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

gain  was  struck,  and  October  first,  1800,  the  secret  treaty 
was  signed  at  San  Ildefonso.  By  that  treaty  Spain 
pledged  herself  to  retrocede  the  province  of  Louisiana 
as  she  had  received  it  from  France.  France  in  turn 
pledged  herself  to  add  the  duchy  of  Tuscany  to  the 
dukedom  of  Palma,  make  of  them  the  kingdom  of 
Etruria,  and  place  on  this  new  throne  the  daughter  and 
son-in-law  of  the  King  of  Spain. 

To  make  good  the  promise  was  to  Napoleon  an  easy 
matter.  The  battle  of  Hohenlinden  humbled  Austria. 
The  treaty  which  followed  that  battle  deprived  the 
Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany  of  his  duchy,  and  the  young 
King  and  Queen  of  Etruria  were  soon  on  their  way  to 
Italy.  But  a  year  sped  by  before  Napoleon  began  to 
think  seriously  of  occupying  Louisiana.  Then  he  com 
manded  an  expedition  to  be  made  ready  to  sail  in  the 
last  week  of  September,  1801.  But  one  delay  followed 
another.  The  First  Consul  failed  to  display  his  usual 
energy,  and  when  the  King  of  Spain  on  the  fifteenth  of 
October  signed  the  order  for  the  delivery  of  Louisiana  to 
France,  neither  ships  nor  troops  were  ready.  It  was 
November  before  Leclerc  weighed  anchor  and  made 
for  a  land  he  was  destined  never  to  reach.  His  orders 
bade  him  stop  on  the  way  at  San  Domingo,  destroy  the 
little  negro  republic  ruled  by  Toussaint  L'Ouverture 
and  reduce  that  former  possession  of  France  to  its  old 
allegiance.  Happily  for  us,  that  work  was  never  done. 
The  attempt  to  reduce  the  negroes  to  subjection  con 
sumed  one  fine  army  of  seventeen  thousand  men.  Yel 
low  fever,  more  terrible  than  war,  swept  away  a  second 
while  engaged  in  the  task  of  holding  the  negroes  in 
subjection,  and  the  West  was  saved. 

The  treaty  of  San  Ildefonso  was  supposed  to  be 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  TERRITORY.  297 

secret.  But  the  news  that  by  it  Louisiana  had  been 
ceded  to  France  reached  this  country  in  1802,  and  the 
Spanish  Intend  ant  at  New  Orleans,  acting  on  his  own 
authority,  in  the  hope,  perhaps,  of  winning  the  favor  of 
Napoleon,  proclaimed  the  right  of  deposit  at  New  Or 
leans  suspended,  and  shut  the  Mississippi  in  October, 
1802.  In  a  fortnight  the  whole  West  was  in  a  furor 
and  clamoring  loudly  for  war.  To  see  a  people  so 
weak,  so  impotent,  as  the  Spanish  in  possession  of  the 
mouth  of  the  river  was  one  thing.  But  to  see  such  a 
nation  as  France  ruled  by  such  a  man  as  Napoleon  in 
possession  was  another  and  a  very  different  thing.  Pre 
vented  it  must  be  at  all  hazards,  and,  without  waiting 
for  the  consent  of  Congress,  Jefferson  bade  Livingston, 
our  Minister  at  Paris,  offer  to  purchase  the  Island  of 
Orleans.  "There  is,"  he  wrote,  "on  the  globe  one 
single  spot  the  possessor  of  which  is  our  natural  and 
habitual  enemy.  It  is  New  Orleans,  through  which 
must  pass  to  market  the  produce  of  three  eighths  of 
that  territory  which  from  its  fertility  will  yield  more 
than  half  of  our  whole  produce  and  contains  more  than 
half  of  our  whole  population." 

The  Federalists,  when  Congress  met,  took  up  the 
cry,  and  Jefferson  despatched  Monroe  to  join  Living 
ston  in  the  attempt  to  buy  the  Spanish  possessions  east 
of  the  Mississippi. 

"While  these  things  were  happening  in  the  United 
States,  events  of  yet  greater  importance  were  happen 
ing  in  Europe.  The  heroic  struggles  of  five  hundred 
thousand  Haytian  negroes  who  would  not  be  enslaved, 
the  fifty  thousand  soldiers  whose  lives  had  been  sacri 
ficed,  the  millions  of  francs  that  had  been  squandered, 
not  in  subjugating  but  in  desolating  San  Domingo,  had 


298  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

destroyed  Napoleon's  dream  of  empire  in  the  New 
World.  From  the  day  news  of  Leclerc's  death  reached 
him  all  idea  of  a  colonial  system  vanished.  To  abandon 
San  Domingo  and  Louisiana  outright  would  have  been 
to  confess  defeat.  Napoleon,  therefore,  in  his  charac 
teristic  way,  began  to  cast  about  him  for  an  excuse,  and 
found  it  in  that  quarrel  with  England  which  broke  the 
peace  of  Amiens  and  again  involved  Europe  in  war. 

Fortunately  for  us,  at  the  very  moment  his  deter 
mination  to  abandon  his  colonies  was  reached,  Livingston 
appeared  before  his  minister  with  an  offer  to  buy  the 
Island  of  Orleans,  and  was  met  with  the  counter  propo 
sition  to  buy  all  Louisiana.  No  instructions  authorized 
Livingston  to  go  so  far.  But  time  was  short ;  Napoleon 
was  imperious ;  England,  it  was  feared,  would  in  case  of 
war  seize  Louisiana,  and  to  save  it  both  Livingston  and 
Monroe  broke  through  their  instructions,  and  in  1803 
signed  the  treaty  and  the  two  Conventions  which  se 
cured  us  Louisiana.  The  price  was  in  round  numbers 
fifteen  millions  of  dollars. 

Jefferson  was  greatly  puzzled  when  these  three 
documents  reached  his  hand.  He  had  offered  to  buy 
an  island  for  a  dockyard  and  a  place  of  deposit.  He 
was  offered  a  magnificent  domain.  He  had  been  au 
thorized  to  expend  two  millions  of  dollars;  the  sum 
demanded  was  fifteen.  As  a  strict  constructionist  he 
could  not,  and  for  a  while  he  did  not,  consider  the 
purchase  of  foreign  territory  as  a  constitutional  act. 
But,  when  he  thought  of  the  evils  that  would  follow  if 
Louisiana  remained  with  France,  and  of  the  blessings 
that  would  follow  if  Louisiana  came  to  the  United 
States,  his  common  sense  got  the  better  of  his  narrow 
political  scruples,  and  he  soon  found  a  way  of  escape. 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  TERRITORY.  299 

He  would  accept  the  treaty,  summon  Congress,  urge 
the  House  and  Senate  to  perfect  the  purchase,  and 
trust  to  the  Constitution  being  mended  so  as  to  make 
the  purchase  legal.  The  six  months  allowed  for  delib 
eration  would  expire  on  the  thirtieth  day  of  October. 
The  Congress  was  therefore  summoned  to  meet  on  Oc 
tober  seventeenth. 

Nothing  so  finely  illustrates  the  low  state  to  which 
the  once  prosperous  Federalists  were  fallen  as  the  tur 
bulent  and  factious  opposition  they  now  made  to  the 
acquisition  of  Louisiana.  Some  were  worried  lest  the 
East  should  become  depopulated,  lest  a  great  emigra 
tion  should  set  in,  lest  old  men  and  young  men,  aban 
doning  homes  and  occupations,  should  cross  the  Missis 
sippi  and  perhaps  found  there  a  republic  of  their  own. 
Some  feared  that  mere  extent  of  territory  would  rend 
the  Republic  apart ;  that  no  common  ties  of  interest 
could  ever  bind  together  under  one  government  men 
who  fought  Indians  and  trapped  bears  around  the  head 
waters  of  the  Missouri,  and  men  who  built  ships  and 
caught  fish  in  the  harbors  of  the  Atlantic  coast.  Some 
affected  the  language  of  patriots  and  lamented  the  enor 
mous  increase  the  purchase  would  make  in  the  national 
debt.  This,  indeed,  became  a  favorite  theme,  and  soon 
Federal  writers  and  printers  all  over  the  land  were  vy 
ing  with  each  other  in  attempts  to  show  the  people 
what  an  exceedingly  great  sum  of  money  fifteen  mill 
ions  of  dollars  was. 

Fifteen  millions  of  dollars !  they  would  exclaim. 
The  sale  of  a  wilderness  has  not  usually  commanded  a 
price  so  high.  Ferdinand  Gorges  received  but  twelve 
hundred  and  fifty  pounds  sterling  for  the  Province  of 
Maine.  William  Penn  gave  for  the  wilderness  that 


300  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

now  bears  his  name  bnt  a  trifle  over  five  thousand 
pounds.  Fifteen  millions  of  dollars !  A  breath  will 
suffice  to  pronounce  the  words.  A  few  strokes  of  the 
pen  will  express  the  sum  on  paper.  But  not  one  man 
in  a  thousand  has  any  conception  of  the  magnitude  of 
the  amount.  "Weigh  it,  and  there  will  be  four  hundred 
and  thirty-three  tons  of  solid  silver.  Load  it  into 
wagons,  and  there  will  be  eight  hundred  and  sixty-six 
of  them.  Place  the  wagons  in  a  line,  giving  two  rods 
to  each,  and  they  will  cover  a  distance  of  five  and  one 
third  miles.  Hire  a  laborer  to  shovel  it  into  the  carts, 
and  though  he  load  sixteen  each  day,  he  will  not  finish 
the  work  in  two  months.  Stack  it  up  dollar  on  dollar, 
and,  supposing  nine  to  make  an  inch,  the  pile  will  be 
more  than  three  miles  high.  It  would  load  twenty-five 
sloops ;  it  would  pay  an  army  of  twenty-five  thousand 
men  forty  shillings  a  week  each  for  twenty-five  years  ; 
it  would,  divided  among  the  population  of  the  country, 
give  three  dollars  for  each  man,  woman,  and  child. 
All  the  gold  and  all  the  silver  coin  in  the  Union  would, 
if  collected,  fall  vastly  short  of  such  a  sum. 

Statistics,  most  happily,  were  of  no  avail.  The 
mass  of  the  people  approved  of  the  purchase,  the  Senate 
ratified  the  treaty  and  the  Conventions,  and  on  Decem 
ber  twentieth,  1803,  Louisiana  was  taken  possession  of 
by  the  United  States. 

In  the  treaty  of  purchase  no  boundary  was  given. 
When  the  United  States  took  possession  in  December, 
1803,  the  eastern  boundary  was  the  Mississippi  from  its 
source  to  the  thirty -first  parallel ;  but  where  the  source 
of  the  Mississippi  was  no  man  knew,  and  what  was  the 
boundary  below  thirty-one  degrees  was  long  in  dispute. 
Americans  claimed  as  far  eastward  as  the  Perdido  River, 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  TERRITORY.  301 

but  Spain  would  acknowledge  no  claim  east  of  the  Mis 
sissippi  and  south  of  the  thirty-first  parallel  save  the 
Island  of  Orleans.  The  south  boundary  was,  of  course, 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico ;  but  whether  it  extended  along  the 
Gulf  to  the  Sabine  or  the  Eio  Grande  was  not  settled. 
The  mountains,  wherever  they  might  be,  were  believed 
to  bound  it  on  the  west,  and  the  possessions  of  Great 
Britain,  wherever  they  might  be,  were  known  to  bound 
it  on  the  north. 

Want  of  definite  boundaries  on  the  southeast  and  on 
the  southwest  now  involved  us  in  a  serious  dispute  with 
Spain,  which  war  abroad  and  at  home  and  a  suspension 
of  all  diplomatic  relations  with  Spain  from  1808  to 
3815,  prolonged  till  1819,  when  a  treaty  was  made 
which  secured  Florida  at  a  cost  in  round  numbers  of 
five  million  dollars,  and  for  the  first  time  drew  a 
boundary  line  on  the  southwest.  Starting  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Sabine,  it  passed  up  that  river  to  the  parallel  of 
thirty-two  degrees,  thence  due  north  to  the  Red  River, 
westward  along  that  river  to  the  one  hundredth  me 
ridian,  thence  due  north  to  the  Arkansas  River,  whose 
south  bank  it  followed  to  the  river's  source  in  the  moun 
tains.  As  nobody  knew  where  the  source  of  the  Arkan 
sas  was,  the  treaty  provided  that  the  line  should  be  drawn 
from  the  source,  when  found,  either  due  north  or  due 
south,  as  occasion  might  require,  to  the  parallel  of  forty- 
two  degrees  north  latitude,  and  thence  westward  along 
that  parallel  to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

Just  before  the  treaty  of  1819  was  made  with 
Spain,  the  Convention  of  1818  was  concluded  with 
Great  Britain,  and  a  northern  boundary  was  given  to 
Louisiana.  This  line  of  demarcation  between  the  terri 
tory  of  the  United  States  and  the  territory  of  his 


302  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

Britannic  Majesty  was  to  begin  at  "the  most  north 
western  point  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,"  run  "  due 
north  or  south,  as  the  case  may  be,"  to  the  forty-ninth 
parallel  of  north  latitude,  and  westward  along  that  par 
allel  to  the  summit  of  the  Stony — or,  as  we  know  them, 
the  Rocky — Mountains.  The  region  which  lies  beyond 
the  mountains,  and  is  now  comprised  in  the  States  of 
Idaho,  Washington,  and  Oregon,  was  claimed  by  each 
nation.  The  claim  of  the  United  States  rested  on  the 
discovery  of  the  Columbia  River  by  Captain  Gray  in 
1792,  on  the  exploration  of  the  country  by  Lewis  and 
Clark  in  1804-1806,  and  on  the  settlement  built  by 
the  Missouri  Fur  Company  at  Fort  Hall  in  1808,  and 
by  the  Pacific  Fur  Company  at  Astoria  in  1810.  But, 
as  it  was  still  a  wilderness,  to  dispute  about  it  seemed 
so  idle  that  "  the  high  contracting  parties  "  agreed  that 
for  ten  years  they  would  hold  the  country  in  joint  oc 
cupancy,  and  that  such  occupancy  should  hi  no  wise  af 
fect  the  claim  of  either. 

And  now  a  new  claimant  appeared  in  the  Emperor 
of  Russia  who,  in  1822,  put  forth  a  ukase  and  asserted 
his  ownership  of  the  whole  northwestern  coast  from 
Behring  Sea  southward  to  fifty-one  degrees  of  north 
latitude,  and  warned  all  foreigners  not  to  come  within 
three  hundred  miles  of  the  coast. 

Against  this  John  Quincy  Adams,  then  Secretary 
of  State,  protested  vigorously  and  bade  the  American 
Minister  at  St.  Petersburg  admit  no  part  of  the  Russian 
claims,  but  rest  the  claims  of  the  United  States  on  the 
Spanish  treaty  of  1819,  which  secured  all  the  rights 
and  pretensions  of  Spain  to  the  coast  north  of  forty-two 
degrees ;  on  the  discovery  of  the  Columbia  by  Grey ; 
on  the  exploration  of  the  country  by  Lewis  and  Clark ; 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  TERRITORY.  303 

and  on  the  settlement  at  Astoria.  He  might,  however, 
agree  that  no  citizen  of  the  United  States  should  land 
at  any  Russian  settlement  without  permission  of  the 
Russian  commander ;  that  no  subjects  of  the  Emperor 
should  land  at  any  American  settlements  without  con 
sent  of  the  American  authorities ;  and  that  no  Ameri 
can  settlements  should  be  made  north  and  no  Russian 
settlements  should  be  established  south  of  fifty-five 
degrees  north  latitude. 

Meantime  Great  Britain  had  protested  against  the 
imperial  ukase,  and  had  in  like  manner  been  invited 
to  an  amicable  negotiation  for  the  adjustment  of  her 
claims.  It  was  supposed  that,  as  England  and  America 
held  the  country  in  joint  occupation,  the  two  nations 
would  carry  on  a  joint  negotiation  with  Russia.  But 
when  it  was  found  that  the  British  envoy  had  power  to 
discuss,  but  not  to  conclude  anything,  and  that  author 
ity  to  act  jointly  was  not  likely  to  be  given  him,  Henry 
Middleton  began  the  negotiation  on  behalf  of  the 
United  States  alone  by  offering  fifty-five  degrees  as  a 
boundary  or  line  of  demarcation.  Russia  then  offered 
54°  40',  which  was  accepted  and  incorporated  in  the 
Convention  signed  in  April,  1824. 

The  discussion  thus  raised  by  Russia  made  it  most 
fitting  that  the  United  States  and  England  should  come 
to  an  understanding  as  to  their  respective  pretensions. 
Adams,  therefore,  instructed  Benjamin  Rush  to  bring 
up  the  matter,  and  to  state  definitely  the  grounds  on 
which  the  United  States  took  her  stand.  The  Russian 
application  of  the  colonial  principle  of  exclusion  was 
not  to  be  admitted  as  lawful  on  any  part  of  the  north 
west  coast  of  America.  Indeed,  it  was  to  be  denied 
that  such  a  principle  could  be  applied  by  any  European 


304:  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

nation.  It  was  true  that  by  the  Nootka  Sound  Con 
vention  of  1790  England  had  agreed  that,  so  far  as 
Spanish  settlements  extended  in  North  and  South 
America,  Spain  possessed  the  exclusive  rights  territo 
rial,  and  of  navigation  and  fishery,  to  a  distance  of  ten 
miles  from  the  coasts  so  actually  occupied.  But  the 
independence  of  the  South  American  nations  and  of 
Mexico  has  extinguished,  said  Adams,  the  exclusive  colo 
nial  rights  of  Spain  in  North  and  South  America,  and 
the  American  continents  henceforth  will  no  longer  be 
subjects  of  colonization.  Occupied  by  civilized  inde 
pendent  nations,  they  will  be  accessible  to  Europeans 
on  that  footing  alone,  and  the  Pacific  Ocean  and  every 
part  of  it  will  remain  open  to  the  navigation  of  all  na 
tions  in  like  manner  with  the  Atlantic." 

As  to  the  boundary,  Rush  was  to  offer  to  stipulate 
that  no  settlements  be  made  in  future  by  the  Russians 
south  of  fifty-five  degrees,  by  citizens  of  the  United 
States  north  of  fifty-one  degrees,  or  by  British  subjects 
either  south  of  fifty-one  or  north  of  fifty-five  degrees. 
He  might,  however,  if  England  insisted  on  it,  accept 
forty-nine  degrees  as  the  boundary  from  the  Rocky 
Mountains  to  the  sea.  These  two  propositions  were  ac 
cordingly  made  by  Rush,  and  were  met  the  one  with  a 
declination  and  the  other  with  a  flat  denial.  Great 
Britain,  it  was  answered,  considered  the  whole  of  the 
unoccupied  parts  of  America  as  open  to  her  future  set 
tlements  as  heretofore,  and  would  make  no  exception 
of  the  northwest  coast,  whether  north  of  forty-two  de 
grees  or  south  of  fifty-one.  Yet  she  would,  from  pure 
goodness,  from  a  desire  to  close  sources  of  disagreement 
which  the  future  might  multiply  and  aggravate,  waive 
her  rights,  and  suggest  a  line  of  demarcation.  This  line 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  TERRITORY.  3Q5 

was  the  parallel  of  forty-nine  degrees  from  the  summit 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  the  northeasternmost  branch 
of  the  Columbia  River,  and  thence  down  the  Columbia 
to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Rush  rejected  it  as  promptly  as 
England  had  rejected  that  of  the  United  States,  and 
tendered  forty-nine  degrees  from  the  mountains  to  the 
sea.  Again,  England  declined  the  offer,  and  the  nego 
tiations  came  to  naught.*  In  1825,  however,  Great 
Britain  made  an  agreement  with  Russia  by  which  she 
also  accepted  the  line  54°  40'  as  the  south  boundary  of 
Alaska,  and  as  such  it  has  remained  to  this  day.  Thus 
was  the  country  between  42°  and  54°  40'  once  more  left 
to  be  contended  for  by  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States,  and  when  the  ten  years  of  joint  occupation  pro 
vided  for  by  the  Convention  drew  to  a  close,  the  claim 
ants  being  still  unable  to  settle  the  ownership,  joint 
occupation  was  continued  indefinitely  with  the  new  con 
dition  that  it  could  be  ended  by  either  party  on  one 
year's  notice. 

With  this  agreement  the  Oregon  country  ceased  to 
trouble  the  people  till  in  the  summer  of  1832  four  Flat- 
Head  Indians  suddenly  appeared  in  St.  Louis,  sought 
out  General  William  Clark,  and  told  him  they  had 
come  from  what  is  now  the  State  of  Washington  in 
search  of  the  white  man's  Bible.  The  Indians  were 
fed  and  feasted,  armed,  blanketed,  hung  with  orna 
ments,  but  were  not  given  the  Bible.  Among  those 
who  heard  this  singular  request  was  a  young  clerk  in 
the  office  of  Clark.  Touched  by  the  refusal  of  the 
Bible,  he  sent  an  account  of  the  whole  proceeding  to  a 
friend  in  Pittsburg,  who  wisely  gave  the  letter  to  the 

*  Negotiations  ended  in  July,  1824. 


306  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

public.  The  heart  of  the  country  was  deeply  moved, 
and  four  missionaries,  sent  out  by  the  Methodist  Board 
of  Missions  and  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners 
for  Foreign  Missions,  were  soon  on  their  way  to  Oregon. 
It  is  only  with  one,  Marcus  Whitman,  that  we  have  to 
deal.  He  crossed  the  mountains  in  1835,  entered  the 
Columbia  valley,  went  among  the  Nez  Perces,  and 
brought  home  so  strong  a  report  to  the  Board  of  Mis 
sions  that  he  was  sent  back  with  H.  H.  Spalding  as  a 
missionary  to  the  Indians.  With  them  went  their  wives, 
the  first  white  women  who  ever  passed  over  the  Kocky 
Mountains  into  the  Northwest.  The  party  set  out 
from  the  East  in  the  early  spring  of  1836  for  St.  Louis, 
where  they  joined  the  annual  expedition  of  the  Ameri 
can  Fur  Company  to  the  fur  regions  of  Oregon.  The 
route  was  up  the  Missouri  to  Council  Bluffs,  and  along 
the  Platte  River  across  Nebraska.  Late  in  May  they 
were  on  the  South  Fork;  in  June  they  were  on  the 
Laramie,  and  in  July  entered  the  famous  South  Pass, 
through  which,  since  that  day,  tens  of  thousands  of  emi 
grants  have  poured  into  Oregon.  At  this  place  the 
White  River  Mountains  and  the  Rocky  Mountains  come 
close  together,  separated  only  by  the  pass,  than  which 
there  is  perhaps  no  more  interesting  spot  to  travellers 
in  the  whole  Northwest.  It  is  the  great  divide  of  the 
waters  of  the  continent.  The  traveller  who  takes  his 
stand  on  that  high  plateau  has  in  plain  sight,  at  his  feet, 
within  a  radius  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  the  head  waters 
of  the  three  great  rivers  of  the  Northwest.  Before  him 
lies  the  little  stream  that  marks  the  humble  beginning 
of  the  Yellowstone,  and  on  his  right  hand  is  the  foun 
tain  of  the  North  Platte,  the  waters  of  both  of  which 
rivers  in  time  reach  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  On  his  left 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  TERRITORY.  3Q7 

are  the  head  waters  of  the  Columbia,  which  finds  its 
outlet  in  the  Pacific. 

It  was  the  fourth  of  July  when  Whitman  reached 
this  spot,  and,  recollecting  the  day  and  the  work  that 
lay  before  him,  he  passed  a  short  way  down  the  Pacific 
slope,  called  on  the  party  to  dismount,  raised  the  Amer 
ican  flag,  and,  while  they  all  kneeled  around  the  Book 
it  was  their  mission  to  carry  to  the  Indians,  he,  with 
prayer  and  praise,  took  possession  of  the  Western  Con 
tinent  in  the  name  of  Christ  and  of  His  Church. 

In  September,  1836,  Whitman  reached  Walla  Walla, 
and  by  the  end  of  1841  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven 
emigrants  had  followed  him  from  the  United  States. 
Such  an  inroad  of  Americans  alarmed  the  English  Fur 
Companies,  who  now  began  to  hurry  forward  emigrants 
from  Canada.  Joint  possession  then  began  to  mean 
the  right  of  the  people  of  each  country  to  settle  Oregon, 
with  the  fact  clearly  in  view  that  whichever  secured  the 
greater  number  of  settlers  would  end  joint  occupancy 
and  hold  Oregon  forever. 

And  now  occurred  another  of  those  apparently 
trifling  incidents  on  which  great  events  so  often  turn. 
Four  Indians  begging  for  a  Bible  brought  Whitman  to 
Oregon.  A  dinner  at  the  English  trading-post,  Fort 
Walla  Walla,  sent  him  back  with  all  possible  speed  to 
Washington.  The  occasion  of  the  dinner  was  the  ar 
rival  at  the  fort  of  the  agents  of  the  Fur  Company 
with  fifteen  boats  loaded  with  goods  for  the  Indians  on 
the  Frazer  River.  Whitman  was  the  sole  representa 
tive  of  the  United  States  at  the  feast,  which  was 
scarcely  begun  when  a  messenger  entered  with  word 
that  one  hundred  and  forty  English  colonists  had 
crossed  the  mountains,  had  entered  Oregon,  and  were 


308  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

even  then  at  the  Columbia  River.  A  great  shout  rose 
from  the  assembled  company,  and  one  of  them,  spring 
ing  to  his  feet  and  waving  his  cap,  cried  out,  "  Hurrah 
for  Oregon !  The  Americans  are  too  late.  We  have 
the  country  now." 

That  moment  the  policy  of  the  English  Govern 
ment  was  made  plain.  The  traders  that  came  up  from 
St.  Louis  in  the  summer  brought  word  that  a  treaty 
was  soon  to  be  made  to  put  at  rest  the  long-vexed  ques 
tion  of  the  boundary.  Knowing  this,  Whitman  thought 
England  was  attempting  to  settle  Oregon  and  then  hold 
it  by  the  right  of  prior  settlement,  and,  thinking  so,  he 
determined  that  the  Government  at  Washington  should 
know  of  it  without  delay.  Not  a  moment  was  lost.  He 
left  the  table  instantly,  galloped  to  his  home  at  the 
mission  station,  and  in  twenty-four  hours  was  on  his 
way  to  Washington  with  two  companions. 

A  horseback  ride  of  four  thousand  miles  over  the 
best  of  roads  in  the  best  of  weather  would  have  been  a 
matter  of  no  small  discomfort.  But  he  was  to  make  it 
across  a  wilderness  in  the  dead  of  winter.  His  route 
was  southward  across  Idaho,  across  Utah,  past  Salt 
Lake,  past  the  site  soon  to  be  occupied  by  the  Mormon 
city,  across  New  Mexico  to  Sante  Fe,  and  on  by  the 
Santa  Fe  trail  to  St.  Louis.  He  crossed  the  swollen 
rivers  on  improvised  floats,  encountered  terrible  storms 
on  the  prairie,  was  snow-bound  for  days  in  the  gorges, 
was  lost  in  a  blizzard,  lived  on  the  bark  of  cotton- wood 
trees,  was  chased  by  the  wolves,  and  once  gave  himself 
up  for  lost.  But  he  pushed  on,  and,  frozen,  weak  with 
hunger,  and  almost  dead,  reached  Santa  Fe  January 
third,  184:3.  January  seventh  he  was  on  his  way  to 
St.  Louis,  where,  to  his  dismay,  he  learned  that  the 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  TERRITORY.  309 

Webster-Ashburton  Treaty  had  been  concluded  August 
ninth,  1842,  ratified  by  the  Senate  August  twenty-sixth, 
and  proclaimed  the  law  of  the  land  November  tenth. 
But  he  was  not  too  late,  for  the  treaty  said  not  one  word 
about  the  boundary  of  Oregon.  Once  more  he  pushed 
forward,  and  on  March  third,  1843,  five  months  from 
the  day  he  left  the  Columbia,  he  strode  into  the  office 
of  the  Secretary  of  State  at  Washington. 

He  came  in  the  very  nick  of  time.  The  question 
then  asked  on  every  hand  was,  "  Is  Oregon  worth  hav 
ing  ? "  for  not  one  man  east  of  the  Missouri  had  any 
conception  of  what  Oregon  was.  The  existence  of  a 
great  American  desert  was  firmly  believed,  and  part  of 
this  desert  was  east  of  Oregon.  "What,"  exclaimed 
Mr.  McDuifie  in  his  speech  in  the  Senate,  January 
twenty-third,  1843,  "  is  the  nature  of  this  country  ? 
Why,  as  I  understand  it,  seven  hundred  miles  this  side 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains  is  uninhabitable,  a  region 
where  rain  scarcely  ever  falls,  a  barren,  sandy  soil, 
mountains  totally  impassable.  Well,  now,  what  are  we 
going  to  do  in  this  case  ?  How  are  you  going  to  apply 
steam  ?  Have  you  made  anything  like  an  estimate  of 
the  cost  of  a  railroad  from  here  to  the  Columbia  ?  Why, 
the  wealth  of  the  Indies  would  be  insufficient.  Of  what 
use  will  this  be  for  agricultural  purposes?  Why,  I 
would  not  for  that  purpose  give  a  pinch  of  snuff  for 
the  whole  territory.  I  thank  God  for  his  mercy  in 
placing  the  Rocky  Mountains  there." 

The  mission  of  Whitman  was  to  dispel  this  igno 
rance;  and  he  did  so.  He  destroyed  the  American 
desert  of  Mr.  McDuffie.  He  told  the  President  and 
the  Secretary  just  what  Oregon  was,  and  obtained 
from  them  the  solemn  promise  that  nothing  should  be 


310  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

done  with  regard  to  Oregon  till  he  had  led  out  a  cara 
van  of  American  settlers.  Encouraged  by  the  promise, 
he  now  turned  west  in  search  of  emigrants,  and  so  well 
did  he  succeed  that  in  June  a  caravan  of  two  hundred 
wagons  moved  out  of  Westport  on  the  Missouri  and 
headed  for  the  Northwest.  As  the  news  of  the  success 
of  the  exposition  spread  over  the  country,  a  rage  for 
emigration  broke  out  in  the  "West,  and  grew  wilder  and 
wilder  each  year,  till  in  the  summer  of  1846  five  hun 
dred  and  fifty-eight  wagons  crossed  the  Missouri  River 
for  Oregon,  and  raised  the  white  population  of  that 
country  to  several  thousand  souls. 

Meanwhile,  the  people  had  taken  the  question  up, 
and,  under  the  popular  cry,  "  Reannexation  of  Texas," 
"  The  whole  of  Oregon  or  none,"  "  Fifty -four  forty  or 
fight,"  the  Democrats  entered  the  campaign  of  1844 
and  won  it.  Polk  was  inaugurated  March  fourth,  1845, 
and  in  the  speech  he  made  that  day  from  the  Capitol 
steps  he  declared  that  the  American  title  to  the  country 
of  Oregon  was  clear  and  unquestionable.  Lord  John 
Russell,  when  he  read  this  remark,  called  it  "  a  bluster 
ing  announcement."  The  Democrats,  when  they  read 
Lord  Russell's  sneer,  flung  back  the  taunt,  "  Fifty-four 
forty  or  fight." 

But  the  Administration  had  no  intention  of  fighting, 
and  on  July  twelfth,  1845,  offered  to  compromise  on 
the  line  of  the  forty -ninth  parallel.  England  refused. 
Polk  withdrew  the  offer,  declared  he  would  now  have 
all  of  Oregon  or  none,  and  in  December  urged  Con 
gress  to  give  the  year's  notice,  abandon  joint  occupancy, 
and  protect  the  American  settlers  taken  out  by  Whit 
man.  The  Western  Democrats  cried  out  for  instant 
notice.  But  the  South  deserted  them,  and  April  six- 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  TERRITORY.  3H 

teenth,  1846,  notice  in  very  gentle  and  conciliatory  lan 
guage  passed  the  Senate.  England  now  offered  the 
forty -ninth  parallel,  which  was  promptly  accepted  and 
incorporated  in  the  treaty  of  1846. 

The  willingness  with  which  the  Democrats  aban 
doned  the  claim  to  "  the  whole  of  Oregon  or  none  "  was 
in  great  part  due  to  the  coming  war  with  Mexico  in 
consequence  of  the  annexation  of  Texas. 

When  the  treaty  of  1819  was  made  with  Spain,  and 
the  Sabine,  the  Red,  and  the  Arkansas  Rivers  were 
taken  as  the  boundary  line  between  the  possessions  of 
the  United  States  and  Spain,  Mexico,  then  in  revolt 
against  Spain,  assumed  jurisdiction  over  Texas,  and  in 
1823,  when  Iturbide  had  made  himself  Emperor,  with 
the  title  of  Augustine  the  First,  was  opened  to  colo 
nization  by  foreigners.  The  law,  whose  passage  was 
chiefly  due  to  the  persistence  of  Stephen  Austin,  re 
pealed  the  royal  order  of  Philip  II  for  the  extermina 
tion  of  foreigners,  promised  them  liberty,' security  of 
property,  and  civil  rights,  provided  they  professed  the 
Roman  Catholic  religion,  offered  each  farmer  not  less 
than  177  and  each  stock-raiser  4,428  acres  of  land,  and 
released  them  for  six  years  to  come  from  the  payment 
of  taxes,  duties,  and  tithes. 

But  the  law  had  hardly  been  enacted  when  a  revo 
lution  swept  Iturbide  from  the  throne  and  put  "  The 
United  States  of  Mexico  "  in  place  of  the  empire.  By 
the  new  Constitution,  Texas  was  joined  to  the  neigh 
boring  province  of  Coahuila,  and  under  the  name  of 
"  The  State  of  Coahuila  and  Texas  "  became  a  member 
of  the  Republic,  and  in  1824  passed  a  colonization  law 
of  her  own.  Then  the  settlement  of  Texas  by  citizens 
of  the  United  States  began  in  earnest,  and  in  time  f  our- 
21 


312  WITH   THE  FATHERS. 

teen  huge  grants  of  land  were  taken  by  contractors 
pledged  to  bring  in  5,290  families  before  a  certain 
date. 

For  a  while  all  went  well.  But  about  1830  trouble 
began  between  the  Texans  and  Mexico,  grew  more  and 
more  serious  year  by  year  till  March  second,  1836,  when 
Texas  formally  declared  herself  a  Republic.  But  she  had 
no  idea  of  independent  existence,  and  annexation  to  the 
United  States  was  merely  a  question  of  time.  Indeed,  in 
18 37  Texas  made  a  formal  offer  of  annexation.  But  the 
Legislature  of  eight  Northern  States  protested,  and 
Yan  Buren  would  hear  nothing  about  it.  Tyler,  who 
followed  him,  would  hear  nothing  against  it,  and  in 
1844  surprised  the  Senate  with  a  treaty  of  annexation. 
It  was  rejected ;  but  the  Democrats  made  it  a  question 
in  the  campaign  of  1844,  and,  having  won  the  election, 
annexed  Texas  in  1845  and  brought  on  the  Mexican 
War.  The  treaty  of  Guadalupe  Hidalgo,  which  closed 
the  war,  carried  the  boundary  of  the  United  States  to 
the  Gila  Kiver  and  added  522,900  square  miles  to  the 
public  domain.  In  1853  the  Gadsden  purchase  estab 
lished  the  present  south  boundary  of  Arizona  and  New 
Mexico  from  the  Rio  Grande  to  the  Gulf  of  California, 
and  ended  the  struggle  for  the  "West.  Since  that  day 
the  United  States  has  acquired  but  two  pieces  of  foreign 
soil.  One  was  Alaska,  bought  from  Russia  in  1867. 
The  other  was  the  little  island  of  Navassa,  acquired  in 
1891. 


FOUR  CENTURIES  OF  PROGRESS. 

As  we  all  well  know,  it  was  with  no  idea  of  finding 
a  new  continent  that  Columbus  weighed  anchor  in 
Palos  and  sailed  out  into  the  "  sea  of  darkness."  That 
magnificent  trade  which  for  centuries  past  had  been 
going  on  between  Europe  and  Asia — a  trade  which 
built  up  first  Constantinople,  then  Venice,  and  then 
Genoa — was  hopelessly  gone.  The  Turk  had  thrust 
himself  across  the  great  caravan  routes  and  throttled 
it.  The  crusaders  had  failed  to  throttle  the  Turk, 
and  the  cry  of  all  Europe  was  for  a  new  route  to  the 
Indies.  Portugal  attempted  to  find  one,  and,  under  the 
special  protection  of  the  Pope,  her  navigators  crept 
slowly  down  the  African  coast.  As  league  after  league 
of  that  continent  was  discovered,  and  the  flag  of  Por 
tugal  was  carried  past  Cape  Non,  past  Cape  Blanco, 
past  Cape  Yerde,  along  the  gold  coast,  and  far  below 
the  River  Congo,  to  the  country  of  the  Hottentots, 
yet  no  route  eastward  found,  it  became  quite  clear  that 
even  if  such  a  passage  did  exist  the  length  of  it  would 
make  it  hardly  practicable,  and  the  demand  for  a  shorter 
route  to  the  Indies  became  more  imperative  than  ever. 
This  Columbus  undertook  to  satisfy.  The  lands  both 
he  and  his  followers  discovered  in  nowise  resembled 
what  Europe  knew  the  East  to  be — the  land  of  spices 
and  costly  fabrics,  of  magnificent  cities,  of  palaces  and 

313 


314:  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

treasuries  heaped  with  gold  and  precious  stones.  Yet 
thirty  years  passed  away  and  Magellan  made  that  most 
marvellous  of  voyages  before  Europe  understood  that  a 
New  World  had  been  discovered,  and  that  a  great 
continent  blocked  the  way  to  India.  Profound  disap 
pointment  followed  this.  Europe  had  no  use  for  new 
land,  and  one  hundred  and  fifteen  years  passed  away 
before  the  first  lasting  English  settlement  was  made 
within  our  boundary. 

The  first  century  after  the  landing  of  Columbus  in 
the  Bahamas  was  spent  in  wondering  what  to  do  with 
the  New  World.  The  Pope  had  given  it  to  Spain,  and 
Spain  for  one  hundred  years  did  her  best  to  ruin  it. 
With  the  second  century  a  better  era  opens,  and  the 
period  of  occupation  is  reached  at  last. 

Again  and  again  attempts  had  been  made  to  estab 
lish  colonies  and  found  States.  But  one  and  all  came 
to  naught  till  in  1607  the  English  landed  at  Jamestown. 
There  were,  it  is  true,  at  St.  Augustine  and  at  Santa 
Fe,  and  in  the  valley  of  the  Gila  River,  small  hamlets 
whose  founding  antedated  that  of  Jamestown.  But 
they  were  mere  military  posts  or  missionary  stations, 
and  formed  no  part  of  any  scheme  of  colonization. 
Till  the  opening  of  the  seventeenth  century  all  such 
attempts  had  failed  because  they  had  been  undertaken 
by  private  individuals,  and  because  the  men  who  came 
out  as  colonists  were  adventurers,  not  settlers. 

But  the  task  in  which  so  many  had  failed  was  made 
possible  toward  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century  by 
the  pressure  of  economic  and  religious  distress.  The 
increase  of  population ;  the  rise  in  the  price  of  food ; 
the  rapid  conversion  of  great  quantities  of  arable  land 
to  pasturage ;  the  destruction  of  the  monasteries,  which 


FOUR  CENTURIES  OF  PROGRESS.  315 

threw  on  the  communities  the  tramps  these  houses  had 
so  long  supported ;  the  crowds  of  disbanded  soldiers 
from  the  low  countries  that  filled  the  cities — produced  in 
time  a  class  so  distressed  that  emigration  even  to  the 
New  World  was  gladly  welcomed  by  them.  When, 
therefore,  the  merchants  of  London  and  of  Plymouth 
formed  their  companies,  in  1606,  they  found  a  class 
ready  at  hand  on  which  to  draw  for  settlers.  What 
economic  distress  did  for  Virginia,  religious  intolerance 
did  a  few  years  later  for  Massachusetts ;  and  by  the  end 
of  the  first  quarter  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  Eng 
lish  colonization  of  what  is  now  the  United  States  was 
fairly  under  way.  Before  the  middle  of  the  century  the 
Dutch  held  the  islands  and  shores  of  New  York  Bay, 
the  banks  of  the  Hudson  and  the  Mohawk,  while  the 
Swedes  had  made  a  lodgment  on  the  Delaware.  But 
these  colonies  were  short-lived,  for  the  Swedes  soon  fell 
a  prey  to  the  Dutch ;  the  Dutch  in  turn  were  overcome 
by  the  English,  and  when  the  century  drew  to  a  close 
the  authority  of  Great  Britain  was  supreme  along  the 
whole  Atlantic  coast  from  Maine  to  Florida.  Florida 
and  the  Gulf  shore  as  far  as  Pensacola  were  in  Spanish 
hands.  Beyond  Pensacola,  to  the  Rio  Grande  River, 
the  coast  belonged  to  France,  for  by  that  time  La  Salle 
had  explored  the  Mississippi  to  its  mouth,  had  taken 
formal  possession  in  the  name  of  his  master  of  that 
noble  valley  which  the  great  river  drains,  and  had  made 
a  landing  on  the  shores  of  Texas.  What  is  now  New 
Mexico,  Arizona,  and  California  belonged  to  Spain, 
and  boasted  of  at  least  one  city  more  than  a  hundred 
years  old. 

Thus,  two  centuries  after  the  landing  of  Columbus  in 
the  Bahamas  our  country  was  still,  in  the  main,  an  un- 


316  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

broken  wilderness.  At  that  time  the  English-speaking 
colonies  were  but  ten  in  number,  with  a  population  not  so 
great  by  several  hundred  thousand  as  the  present  popu 
lation  of  the  city  of  New  York.  These  people  dwelt  in 
a  fringe  of  towns  and  little  hamlets  which  lay  close  to  the 
seashore,  or  were  at  most  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
from  it.  Of  the  country  which  lay  back  of  this  coast 
line,  and  stretched  away  to  the  Mississippi  and  the  Great 
Lakes,  less  was  then  known  than  we  now  know  of  the 
heart  of  Africa.  The  French  had  lately  discovered  the 
Mississippi  and  had  floated  down  it  from  the  Wisconsin 
to  the  Gulf.  But  no  white  man  living  had  seen  the 
valley  of  the  Ohio,  or  of  the  Susquehanna,  of  the  Cum 
berland,  or  of  the  Tennessee,  or,  indeed,  of  any  of  the 
great  tributaries  of  the  Father  of  Waters. 

Of  the  thin  fringe  of  towns  which  skirted  the  coast 
from  Maine  to  Carolina,  not  one  contained  as  many  as 
ten  thousand  souls.  Almost  all  were  surrounded  by 
stockades  or  defended  by  block-houses,  and  many  were 
at  that  time  hard  pressed  by  the  Indians,  for  "  King 
William's  War,"  as  the  colonists  called  it,  was  raging. 
Falmouth,  or,  as  we  know  it,  Portland,  and  Maine  east 
of  the  Penobscot  had  just  been  laid  in  ashes  by  the  Ind 
ians,  while  Schenectady,  the  extreme  outpost  of  Eng 
lish  civilization  in  New  York,  had  suffered  the  same 
fate  a  few  years  before.  Coming  along  the  coast  south 
ward  we  find  York  and  Exeter  and  Dover  and  Ports 
mouth  existing.  Eastern  Massachusetts  was  fairly  well 
peopled,  and  was  just  then  dreadfully  tormented  by  the 
Salem  witchcraft  delusion.  Along  Cape  Cod  and  the 
Sound,  and  up  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut,  were 
many  towns  whose  names  are  familiar  to  us.  In  New 
York,  the  Hudson  was  occupied  as  high  up  as  Albany, 


FOUR  CENTURIES  OF  PROGRESS.  317 

and  the  Mohawk  as  far  up  as  Schenectady.  In  New 
Jersey,  Amboy  had  been  founded,  and  Elizabethtown 
and  Burlington  and  a  host  of  smaller  towns.  Penn 
sylvania,  the  youngest  of  the  colonies,  was  not  twelve 
years  old.  Philadelphia  was  but  ten,  Charleston  was 
not  twenty -five,  Baltimore,  Savannah,  and  New  Orleans 
did  not  exist. 

Life  in  the  best  of  such  towns  as  did  exist  would 
now  be  thought  hard  and  unbearable.  Were  we  to  strip 
from  our  daily  lif e  such  luxuries,  such  comforts,  such 
conveniences — nay,  such  necessaries — as  the  progress  of 
two  hundred  years  has  given  us,  and  which  the  men  of 
that  day  did  not  possess,  we  should  think  ourselves  fast 
approaching  the  condition  of  the  red  men.  Not  a 
street  in  the  whole  land  was  paved,  or  lighted,  or  sew 
ered.  Every  drop  of  water  came  from  private  wells  or 
the  town  pump.  Every  peaceful  citizen  was  expected 
to  be  in  bed  by  nine  at  night ;  those  found  on  the  streets 
after  that  hour  were  supposed  not  to  be  peaceable,  and 
were  sure  to  be  stopped  by  the  watch  and  questioned. 
Nowhere  was  there  a  museum  or  a  theatre  or  a  show 
or  any  place  of  amusement.  No  man  in  the  country 
had  ever  seen  a  newspaper,  or  a  piece  of  anthracite 
coal,  or  a  stove,  or  a  friction  match.  Yery  few  had 
ever  seen  a  printing  press,  for  there  were  but  two 
clumsy  hand  presses  in  the  entire  country.  Of  steam 
machinery  of  every  kind  the  world  was  ignorant. 
From  the  barn  of  the  farmer  would  go  the  reaper,  the 
thresher  and  binder,  and  every  kind  of  improved  rake 
and  plough.  In  their  place  would  be  found  the  cradle, 
the  scythe,  the  hand  rake,  and  the  flail.  From  the  ta 
ble  of  the  humblest  man  would  disappear  many  articles 
now  of  common  daily  food,  for  neither  the  tomato,  nor 


318  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

the  sweet  potato,  nor  the  orange  were  in  general  use. 
Indeed,  save  the  sweet  potato,  none  were  eaten  at  all. 

We  should  miss  again  that  humanitarian  spirit 
which  is  one  of  the  many  blessings  of  our  time.  Sym 
pathy  for  the  unfortunate  did  not  exist  anywhere.  The 
debtor  was  cast  into  prison.  The  pauper  was  sold  to 
the  highest  bidder.  The  criminal  was  dragged  out  into 
open  day  and  pilloried,  or  flogged,  or  placed  in  the 
stocks.  Prison  discipline  and  hard  labor  were  not  con 
sidered  remedies  for  crime.  The  culprit  was  not  to  be 
cured  of  his  evil  ways,  but  made  an  example  of,  or,  if 
sent  out  again  into  the  community,  so  marked  that  all 
who  met  him  might  know  his  character.  His  ear  must 
be  cut  off.  His  forehead  must  be  branded.  He  must 
wear  a  letter  of  bright-colored  cloth  sewed  to  his  cloth 
ing.  Many  things  which  now  pass  for  vulgarity  and 
bad  manners  were  then  serious  offences,  and  cursing 
men  and  scolding  women  were  punished  publicly. 

But  in  nothing  would  the  astonishing  progress  be  so 
marked  as  in  the  daily  occupations  of  men.  Startling 
though  the  statement  may  seem,  it  is  strictly  true  that 
a  hundred  vocations  can  easily  be  named  which  now 
give  a  comfortable  livelihood  to  millions  of  our  fellow- 
citizens,  yet  were  utterly  unknown  in  1692.  Could  a 
man  who  witnessed  the  landing  of  Penn  come  back  to 
life  and  undertake  to  read  down  the  "  wants  "  column 
of  a  great  morning  newspaper,  he  would  find  it  utterly 
impossible  to  understand  the  expressions  he  would  meet 
in  every  line.  The  district  messenger,  the  telegraph 
operator,  the  "lineman,"  the  stenographer,  the  type 
writer,  the  "saleslady,"  the  car  driver,  the  gripman, 
the  conductor,  the  brakeman,  the  bookkeeper,  the  street 
sweeper,  the  paver,  the  pork  packer,  the  electrician,  the 


FOUR  CENTURIES  OF  PROGRESS.      319 

elevator  boy,  the  engineer  and  the  fireman,  and  the 
hosts  of  others  whose  trades  and  occupations  are  so 
well  known  to  us,  are  persons  concerning  whose  daily 
life  he  would  not  be  able  to  form  the  faintest  concep 
tion.  The  great  corporations,  the  railroads,  the  steam 
boats,  the  express  companies,  the  mills  and  factories  of 
every  sort  which  cover  our  land  and  give  employment 
to  ten  times  as  many  human  beings  as  there  were  then 
in  all  the  colonies  together,  are  every  one  of  them  the 
creatures  of  our  time.  The  opportunities  for  making  a 
livelihood  were  therefore  vastly  restricted,  for  the  kinds 
of  occupations  were  not  only  few,  but  the  trades  at  best 
yielded  poor  returns.  What  we  call  "the  working- 
man,"  "  the  laborer,"  "  the  mechanic,"  "  the  mill  hand," 
had  no  existence  as  classes.  Every  farm-house  was  a 
miscellaneous  factory,  and  the  farmer  a  jack  of  all 
trades.  He  and  his  sons  made  their  own  shoes,  beat 
out  their  own  nails  and  spikes,  hinges,  and  every  sort  of 
ironmongery,  and  made  much  of  the  furniture  and  all 
the  implements  used  on  the  farm.  The  wife  and  her 
daughters  manufactured  the  clothing  from  dressing  the 
flax  and  carding  the  wool  to  cutting  the  cloth.  Even 
in  towns  large  enough  to  support  a  few  artisans,  each 
made  with  his  own  hands  whatever  he  sold.  Taking 
the  country  through,  the  chief  occupations  of  the  peo 
ple  were  farming  for  a  living  and  trade  for  making 
money.  'New  Hampshire  was  chiefly  agricultural. 
Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  and  New  York  chiefly 
commercial.  The  Southern  colonies  were  wholly  given 
up  to  planting. 

When  another  century  had  passed  and  1792  came, 
these  conditions  had  greatly  changed,  and  changed  for 
the  better.  By  that  time  the  Swedes  had  fallen  a  prey 


320  WITH  THE  FATHERS. 

to  the  Dutchman,  the  Dutchman  to  the  Englishman, 
who  had  driven  out  the  Frenchman,  and  in  his  turn 
had  been  expelled  from  the  United  States. 

In  1792  our  country  touched  the  Mississippi,  but  not 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  numbered  fifteen  States  bound 
together  by  a  Constitution  just  five  years  old.  Since 
that  day  we  have  reached  the  Gulf,  we  have  crossed  the 
Mississippi,  we  have  built  up  two-and-twenty  Common 
wealths  on  the  plains  beyond,  we  have  made  our  Con 
stitution  sure,  and  given  to  Europe  such  an  object  les 
son  in  "  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for 
the  people,"  as  will  not  be  in  vain.  Every  art,  every 
science,  every  branch  of  human  industry  has  been  enor 
mously  developed  by  us.  Whatever  abridges  distance, 
whatever  annihilates  time,  whatever  alleviates  human 
pain,  whatever  extirpates  disease,  has  nowhere  been  so 
fostered  as  in  these  United  States. 

Scarcely  had  the  third  century  of  American  history 
closed  when  Robert  Fulton,  following  in  the  footsteps 
of  Fitch  and  Rumsey,  gave  to  the  world  the  first  suc 
cessful  steamboat,  and  opened  not  only  the  era  of  steam- 
navigation,  but  of  American  invention.  Could  we  but 
stretch  forth  our  hands  and  take  out  of  the  life  of  the 
world  to-day  every  machine,  every  article  of  real  neces 
sity,  every  convenience,  every  comfort  due  to  the  in 
genuity  of  our  countrymen,  we  should  bring  back  a  con 
dition  of  affairs  which  to  us  would  be  almost  intolerable. 
We  should  destroy  every  steamboat,  pull  down  every 
line  of  telegraph,  and  silence  every  telephone  on  the 
face  of  the  earth.  From  the  bed  of  every  ocean  would 
come  innumerable  cables,  and  from  the  streets  and 
houses  of  every  city  would  go  ten  thousand  electric 
lights.  We  should  take  from  the  surgeon  chloroform, 


FOUR  CENTURIES  OF  PROGRESS.  321 

discovered  by  Guthrie,  and  again  inflict  on  the  patient 
all  the  pain  and  suffering  banished  by  the  labors  of  Dr. 
Morton  and  Dr.  Wells.  From  every  house  would  go 
the  sewing-machine,  which  has  lightened  the  labors  of 
millions  of  women  and  revolutionized  the  industries  of 
the  world.  From  every  farm  would  go  the  reaper,  which 
has  cheapened  food  and  made  possible  the  great  grain- 
fields  of  Russia,  of  the  Argentine  Republic,  and  of  our 
own  West.  From  every  army  would  go  the  revolver, 
from  the  arts  would  be  taken  galvanized  iron,  and  every 
application  of  India-rubber,  which,  till  Goodyear  made 
his  discoveries,  was  little  better  than  a  useless  gum. 

As  we  have  grown  more  intelligent,  so  we  have 
grown  more  liberal,  more  tolerant,  more  humane.  When 
this  century  opened  there  was  not  a  blind  asylum,  nor 
a  deaf  and  dumb  asylum,  nor  a  lunatic  asylum,  nor  a 
house  of  refuge  in  all  our  land.  We  have  turned  our 
prisons  from  stews  and  brothels  and  seminaries  of  crime 
into  reformatories  of  crime.  We  have  cut  down  the 
number  of  crimes  punished  with  death  from  fifteen  to 
two.  We  have  ceased  to  use  the  branding  iron  and  the 
treadmill ;  we  have  abolished  imprisonment  for  debt ; 
we  have  exterminated  slavery,  and  raised  the  laborer 
from  a  vassal  to  a  man.  We  have  covered  our  country 
with  free  schools  and  free  libraries,  and  set  up  institu 
tions  for  the  protection  not  only  of  children  but  of 
dumb  brutes.  In  the  face  of  these  facts  it  is  wicked 
to  talk  of  degeneration  and  decay. 


INDEX. 


Adams,  John,  chosen  Vice-Presi 
dent,  160-162;  inaugurated,  166, 
167;  sent  to  France,  259,  260;  his 
sketch  of  Franklin,  261,  262. 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  on  the  Russian 
claims,  18-20 ;  on  the  Panama  mis 
sion,  26;  constitutional  amendment 
on  slavery,  211,  212 ;  report  on  veto 
power,  213. 

Aix  -  la  -  Chapelle,  Congress  at,  8; 
Spanish  affairs  laid  before,  9. 

Alexander,  Emperor  of  Russia,  orig 
inates  Holy  Alliance,  2 ;  establishes 
Duchy  of  Warsaw,  7;  abandons 
liberalism,  7;  sends  a  fleet  to 
Spain,  8,  9 ;  meddles  in  affairs  of 
Spain,  10 ;  at  Troppau,  11. 

Alexander  VI,  Pope,  bull  of,  regard 
ing  America,  281. 

Alexandria,  reception  of  Washing 
ton  at,  167. 

Amendments,  a  supposed  thirteenth 
to  the  United  States  Constitution, 
89-93 ;  States  ask  for  constitution 
al  amendments,  184;  Virginia 
urges,  184, 185 ;  Madison  proposes, 
184 ;  ten  declared  in  force,  184 ; 
attempts  to  amend  the  Con 
stitution,  1790-'94,  187,  188;  the 
eleventh  amendment,  187, 188 ;  re 
garding  election  of  President,  191, 
192,  199,  206-208,  210;  twelfth 
amendment,  192;  regarding  the 


removal  of  judges,  192,  199,212; 
Pennsylvania  asks  for  a  new  tri 
bunal,  193;  Massachusetts  asks 
that  representation  and  direct  taxes 
be  apportioned  according  to  free 
inhabitants,  194,  195,  212;  Hart 
ford  Convention  amendments,  198, 
199;  reputed  thirteenth  amend 
ment,  199 :  Kentucky  proposes  that 
suits  to  which  States  are  parties 
be  tried  by  Senate,  201 ;  regarding 
power  of  Congress  to  build  roads, 
canals,  etc.,  205,  206;  regarding 
duellists  and  defaulters,  210 ;  power 
of  Congress  over  slavery,  211,  212 ; 
limit  on  the  veto  power,  213  ;  sla 
very  amendments  offered  in  1860, 
218-220 ;  since  the  war,  220,  221. 

Americanism,  native,  88,  89 ;  reason 
for,  90;  is  anti- Catholic,  90-92; 
anti-foreign  feeling,  93,  94 ;  rise  of 
Native- American  party,  94;  prin 
ciples  of,  95 ;  success  of,  96  ;  riots, 
96 ;  rise  of  the  Kno'w-Nothings,  97, 
98 ;  anti-Catholic  excitements,  98, 
99;  Gavazzi,  98,  99;  Bedini,  99; 
riots,  100 ;  success  of  Know-Noth 
ings,  100,  101 ;  principles  of,  102 ; 
national  Convention  of  "  American 
Party,"  104, 105  ;  split  in  the  party, 
105 ;  defeat  and  decline,  105. 

Annapolis,  trade  Convention  at,  110, 
111. 


323 


324 


WITH  THE  FATHERS. 


Annexation  of  Texas,  215. 

Appointment,  the  Council  of,  in  New 
York,  79 ;  struggle  for  control  of, 
79-81,  85,  86. 

Arbiter,  is  there  a  common,  for 
States;  Virginia  and  Kentucky 
on,  189-191 ;  co-States  on,  190, 191 ; 
Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  on,  in 
1810, 193, 194 ;  Ohio  on,  201 ;  nul 
lification  by  South  Carolina,  204, 
205. 

Area  of  the  United  States  in  1789, 
178, 180. 

Bank  of  the  United  States,  debate 
on  constitutionality  of  its  charter, 
186, 187 ;  stops  loans  in  the  West, 
242 ;  attacks  on,  in  Kentucky,  243, 
244 ;  in  Ohio,  250,  251 ;  outlawed, 
251. 

Bank  of  Kentucky,  241 ;  suspends, 
242,  244. 

Banks,  mania  for,  in  the  West,  240, 
241,  250. 

Bedini,  Mgr.  Gaetano,  career  of,  99. 

Bills  of  credit,  239. 

Blaine,  James  G.,  on  Monroe  Doc 
trine,  38. 

Boundary  of  the  United  States  in 
1789,  178,  179;  contest  for,  288, 
289. 

Bourne,  Sylvanus,  166. 

British,  take  New  York  city,  271- 
273 ;  refugees  in,  273,  274 ;  depar 
ture  of,  from  New  York  city,  275- 
280. 

Brune,  Marshal,  murder  of,  6. 

Buchanan,  James,  on  Monroe  Doc 
trine  applied  to  Mexico,  38,  34 ;  on 
coercion  and  succession,  218. 

Bulls,  the  papal,  regarding  discovery 
of  America,  281. 

Cabinet,  origin  of  the  President's, 
55,  56. 


Canning,  proposition  to  Rush,  14-16. 

Carbonari,  force  Ferdinand  to  grant 
a  constitution  to  Naples,  10,  11; 
liberalism  stamped  out  at  Naples, 
12,  13. 

Cass,  Lewis,  on  Monroe  Doctrine  and 
Mexico,  33. 

Castlereagh,  Lord,  opinion  of  the 
Holy  Alliance,  3,  4;  to  represent 
Great  Britain  at  Vienna,  14 ;  death 
of,  14. 

Catholics,  feeling  against,  and  cause 
of  it,  90-92  ;  anti-Catholic  riots,  93 ; 
struggle  with  native  Americans, 
95  ;  revival  of  the  feeling  against, 
97-99 ;  Gavazzi,  98,  99 ;  Bedini,  99, 
100 ;  riots,  100. 

"  Cement  for  the  Union,"  156. 

Cities,  early  government  of,  317. 

Clay,  Henry,  resolution  on  the  Mon 
roe  Doctrine,  23;  instructions  to 
Poinsett,  23,  24;  on  the  Panama 
Congress,  25 ;  on  veto  power,  213 ; 
on  one  term  for  President,  214. 

Clinton,  De  Witt,  introduces  the 
spoils  system  into  New  York,  80, 
81. 

Clinton,  George,  contest  for  office  of 
Governor  of  New  York,  77  ;  frauds 
connected  with,  77,  78;  struggle 
with  the  Council  of  Appointment, 
79,  80. 

Coins,  foreign,  in  circulation  1782, 
223 ;  attempt  to  establish  a  nation 
al  coinage,  223,  224 ;  ratio  of  gold 
to  silver,  224 ;  the  mint,  225 ;  first 
coins,  225;  scarcity  of,  226,  227, 
229;  gold  coinage  act  of  1834,  230, 
231 ;  "  Benton  mint-drops,"  «  Jack 
son  yellow- boys,"  231 ;  coinage  act 
of  1853,  232 ;  act  of  1873,  232,  233  ; 
trade  dollar,  233,  234 ;  "  Sherman 
Act,"  235,  236. 

Colonization,  Adams  on,  10, 20 ;  Mon 
roe  Doctrine  on,  21. 


INDEX. 


325 


"  Colonization  "  in  Maryland,  84. 

Common  law,  efforts  to  drive  out  the 
English,  89. 

Compromises  of  the  Constitution :  the 
compromise  on  representation,  128- 
130 ;  on  slave  representation  in  the 
House  of  Eepresentatives,  130-134  ; 
on  the  importation  of  slaves  till 
1808,  138-141. 

Confederation,  the  articles  of, 
framed,  107  ;  character  of  the  Gov 
ernment  under,  107,  108  ;  powers 
of,  108  ;  defects  of,  108,  109,  154- 
156  ;  attempts  to  amend,  109, 110 ; 
the  Annapolis  Convention,  110, 
111 ;  the  Constitutional  Conven 
tion  called,  111. 

Congress,  Monroe  Doctrine  an 
nounced  to,  21,  22  ;  Clay's  resolu 
tion,  23;  debate  on  Panama  Con 
gress,  27,  28 ;  resolution  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  29 ; 
House  of  Eepresentatives  and  Mex 
ico,  36 ;  first,  under  the  Constitution 
meets  at  New  York,  154 ;  Hamilton 
and  Jefferson  on  powers  of,  1 86, 187 ; 
power  of  the  House  over  treaties, 
189;  to  build  roads  and  canals, 
200;  to  charter  a  bank,  200,  201, 
205,  206 ;  "  gag  rule,"  209  ;  power 
over  slavery,  210,  211. 

Congress,  the  Continental,  charac 
ter  of,  107,  108;  powers  of,  108; 
weakness  of,  108,  109;  calls  the 
Constitutional  Convention,  111 ; 
fixes  date  for  Constitution  to  go 
into  force,  150,  151 ;  character 
and  work  of,  152-157 ;  expires  for 
want  of  a  quorum,  157 ;  wander 
ings  of,  156 ;  contempt  for,  155- 
157;  description  of  its  room  at 
New  York  city,  164, 165. 

Congresses  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  8,  9 ; 
at  Troppau,  11,  12;  at  Laybach, 
13 ;  at  Vienna  and  Verona,  14. 


Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
manner  of  amending,  55 ;  the  un 
written,  55, 57-60 ;  amendments  re 
garding  the  President,  64;  Conven 
tion  called  to  frame,  111 ;  delegates 
to,  111-116;  Virginia  plan,  118- 
123;  New  Jersey  plan,  123-125; 
Hamilton's  plan,  125, 126 ;  origin  of 
the  Senate,  127-130 ;  representa 
tion  of  slaves,  130-134;  importation 
of,  138-141 ;  signing  the  Constitu 
tion,  142-1 44;  sent  to  Congress,  145, 
146 ;  opposition  to,  146  ;  ratifica 
tion,  147 ;  opposition  in  the  States, 
147,  148;  amendments,  148,  149; 
Congress  fixes  the  day  for  it  to  go 
into  force,  150,  151 ;  inauguration 
of,  165  ;  objections  to,  182;  States 
propose  amendments,  183 ;  Vir 
ginia  urges  amendments,  184 ;  ten 
adopted,  184;  strict  construction- 
ists  and  loose  constructionists,  184, 
185;  Hamilton's  views,  186;  Jef 
ferson's  views,  186,  187 ;  attempts 
to  amend,  187,  188;  the  eleventh 
amendment,  187, 188 ;  Virginia  and 
Kentucky  resolutions,  189-191 ;  at 
tempts  to  change  manner  of  elect 
ing  President,  191,  192,  206-208  ; 
the  twelfth  amendment,  192;  Penn 
sylvania  proposes  a  tribunal  to  try 
cases  to  which  States  are  parties, 
193,  194;  Massachusetts  proposes 
that  representation  and  direct  taxes 
be  according  to  free  inhabitants, 
194, 195  ;  was  the  embargo  consti 
tutional  ?  195, 196 ;  amendments  of 
fered  by  Hartford  Convention,  198, 
199 ;  repealed  thirteenth  amend 
ment,  199;  may  Congress  charter 
a  bank  ?  200,  201 ;  may  Congress 
engage  in  internal  improvements  ? 
202 ;  is  a  protective  tariff  constitu 
tional  ?  202,  203 ;  regarding  slavery, 
211,  212;  limit  to  veto  power,  213 ; 


326 


WITH  THE  FATHERS. 


interpretation  of  the  Constitution 
on  party  platforms,  214 ;  how  may 
foreign  soil  be  acquired  ?  215  ;  may 
slavery  be  shut  out  of  the  Territo 
ries  ?  215-217 ;  may  a  State  secede  ? 
218 ;  may  a  State  be  coerced  ?  218  ; 
attempts  to  amend  in  1861,  218- 
220 ;  the  thirteenth  amendment  of 
1861  recalled,  220 ;  amendments 
and  interpretation  of,  since  the 
war,  220,  221. 

Constitutions:  that  of  Sicily  over 
thrown,  5 ;  that  of  Spain  destroyed, 
5, 6 ;  promise  of  one  to  Germany,  7 ; 
of  Spain,  9,10 ;  of  Naples,  10-13. 

Convention,  the  Constitutional,  at 
Philadelphia  called,  111  ;  dele 
gates  to,  111-116 ;  meeting  of,  112 ; 
popular  regard  for,  116, 117 ;  feel 
ing  against  Khode  Island,  117; 
sources  of  information  regarding, 
118;  the  Virginia  plan,  119,  120; 
Pinckney's  plan,  119;  parties  in, 
120, 121 ;  question  of  the  Executive, 
120;  of  representation,  121-123; 
the  New  Jersey  plan,  123-125; 
Madison  on  the  New  Jersey  plan, 
125;  Hamilton's  plan,  125,  126; 
New  Jersey  plan  rejected,  126  ;  de 
bate  on  representation,  127,  128; 
Connecticut  compromise,  128-130  • 
rates  of  representation  in  House  of 
Kopresentatives,  130,  representa 
tion  of  slaves,  130-133;  draft  of 
the  Constitution,  136,  137 ;  the 
work  of  revision,  137,  138;  ex 
port  duty  forbidden,  138;  tax  on 
slaves,  138-140;  compromise  re 
garding,  141  ;  final  revision  of 
draft,  142;  signing  the  Constitu 
tion,  142-144;  sent  to  Congress 
and  opposed  there,  145, 146 ;  sent 
to  the  States,  146;  ratification  of, 
147  ;  opposition  to,  147,  148  ; 
amendments,  148, 149. 


Convention,  the  Constitutional,  of 
1787 :  debate  on  the  Executive,  56, 
57 ;  on  his  term  of  office,  58,  59. 

Conyngham,  Gustavus,  257,  258. 

Court,  the  Supreme  of  the  United 
States  on  the  carriage  tax,  188 ;  on 
the  right  to  sue  a  State,  188;  at 
tack  on,  187, 192, 193 ;  on  removal 
of  justices,  192,  193;  Pennsyl 
vania's  contest  with,  193;  Penn 
sylvania  asks  for  a  new  tribunal, 
193. 

Court :  "  Old  Court "  and  "  New 
Court "  in  Kentucky,  247-249. 

Crapo,  resolution  of,  on  Monroe  Doc 
trine,  1880,  38. 

Criminals,  treatment  of,  318. 

Cruisers,  American,  from  France, 
257,  258. 

Currency,  kind  of,  in  1781,  222 ;  dis 
order  of,  222,  223 ;  coins  disappear, 
224;  paper  money,  224;  United 
States  coins,  224,  229 ;  bank  paper, 
rise  of,  228,  229;  condition  of,  in 
1816,  229 ;  Gold  Coin  Act  of  1834, 
231 ;  coinage  act  of  1853,  232 ;  of 
1873,  232,  233;  "trade  dollar," 
233,  234. 

u  Cut  money,"  240. 

Dallas,  A.  J.,  74,  75. 

Deane,  Silas,  255,  257,  258 ;  recalled, 

259. 

Debate,  the  Webster-Hayne,  203. 
Delaware,  religious  restrictions  in, 

72. 
Deposit,  right  of,  at  New  Orleans 

granted,  294;  suspended,  297. 
"Dollar,  the  trade,"  233,  234,  235; 

the  United  States  silver,  adopted 

as  the  unit,  223 ;  first  struck,  225 ; 

none  struck   after  1804,  229,  232, 

233 ;  again  discontinued,  233. 
Douglas,  S.  A.,  squatter  sovereignty, 

217. 


INDEX. 


327 


Duellists,  proposed  constitutional 
amendment  regarding,  210. 

Electors  of  President:  day  for  first 
vote,  152;  manner  of  choosing  in 
New  York,  157 ;  contest  and  fail 
ure  to  elect,  157, 158 ;  contest  in  New 
Hampshire,  158;  elections  else 
where,  158, 159 ;  election  of  Wash 
ington,  160-162;  electoral  vote  in 
1789,  162. 

Embargo,  the :  was  it  constitutional  ? 
195, 196;  excitement  in  New  Eng 
land  over,  196, 197. 

Embezzlers,  proposed  constitutional 
amendment  regarding,  210. 

Europe,  state  of,  in  1818,  4;  reaction 
against  liberalism,  4 ;  reaction  in 
Italy,  5 ;  in  Spain,  5,  6 ;  in  France, 
6 ;  in  Germany,  6, 7  ;  in  Russia,  7 ; 
in  Spain,  9, 10 ;  in  Naples,  10, 11 ; 
in  Portugal,  11. 

Evacuation  of  New  York  city  by  the 
British,  273-280. 

Exploration  of  the  United  States, 
Spanish  and  English,  281-283; 
French,  283,  284 ;  Marquette,  285, 
286 ;  La  Salle,  286,  287 ;  Lewis  and 
Clark,  302. 

Father  Abraham's  Address,  253. 

Federalists  suppress  the  Pennsyl 
vania  Herald,  74,  75. 

Ferdinand  VII  of  Spain  destroys  con 
stitutional  government  in  Spain,  5, 
6 ;  rebellion  of  his  American  colo 
nies,  8 ;  seeks  aid  of  Holy  Allies,  8, 
9 ;  attempts  to  put  down  rebellion, 
9 ;  people  force  him  to  restore  Con 
stitution,  9, 10 ;  French  troops  sent 
to  his  aid,  14. 

Ferdinand,  King  of  Sicily,  5. 

"  Fifty-four  forty,"  302,  303. 

"  Filibustering,"  instance  of,  in 
Pennsylvania  Assembly  in  1787, 
73,  74. 

22 


Fish,  Hamilton,  report  on  Monroe 
Doctrine,  37,  note. 

Florida  bought  by  United  States, 
301. 

"  Force  Act,"  the,  of  1809,  excite 
ment  in  New  England  over,  196, 
197. 

Foreigners,  feeling  against,  88-90, 
92-94 ;  rise  of  the  Native-Ameri 
can  party,  94  ;  principles  of,  95. 

France,  purpose  of  quadruple  treaty 
as  to,  4 ;  effect  of  Waterloo  on,  6 ; 
liberalism  destroyed,  6;  sends 
troops  into  Spain,  14 ;  meddles  in 
affairs  of  Mexico  in  1860,  33,  34; 
London  newspapers  on,  35 ;  United 
States  on  the  action  of  France  in 
Mexico,  35-37 ;  France  withdraws, 
36,  37. 

Franchise,  restrictions  on,  71,  72; 
163, 164. 

Francis,  Emperor  of  Austria,  one  of 
the  Holy  Allies,  2,  3. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  urges  the  sign 
ing  of  the  Constitution,  143  ;  re# 
marks  on  the  work  of  the  Consti 
tutional  Convention,  144, 145  ;  sent 
to  France,  254,  255 ;  popularity  of 
the  American  cause  in  France, 
255,  256 ;  American  cruisers,  257, 
258  ;  Adams  joins,  259  ;  business 
habits,  260;  Adams's  sketch  of,  261, 
262 ;  received  by  France  as  United 
States  Minister,  262,  263;  popu 
larity  of,  263-265 ;  abuse  of,  265 ; 
letter  to  Strahan,  270;  return 
home,  270. 

Frederick  William,  King  of  Prussia, 
one  jof  the  Holy  Allies,  2,  3 ;  prom 
ises  constitution  to  Germany,  7  ; 
promise  not  kept,  7. 

Free-soilers,  views  on  slavery,  215, 
216. 

French :  explorations  in  Canada,  283, 
284 ;  discovery  of  the  Mississippi, 


328 


WITH  THE  FATHERS. 


285,  286  ;  La  Salle,  exploration  of 
Mississippi,  286,  287;  Louisiana, 
287,  288 ;  expelled  from  America, 
287,  288;  regain  Louisiana,  294- 
296 ;  sell  Louisiana  to  the  United 
States,  296-300. 

Frontier  of  United  States  in  1789, 
180. 

Gadsden  purchase,  312. 

"  Gag-rule,"  209. 

Gavazzi,  Father,  career  of,  98. 

Germany,  constitution  promised,  7 ; 
effect  of  Wartburg  Festival,  7. 

"  Gerrymander,  the,"  origin  of,  81, 
82;  in  New  Jersey,  83;  in  New 
York,  83  ;  in  Maryland,  83. 

Grant,  U.  8.,  attempt  to  give  a  third 
term  to,  67-69. 

Great  Britain  declines  to  enter  Holy 
Alliance,  4;  signs  quadruple 
treaty,  4 ;  persuades  Ferdinand  to 
give  constitution  to  Sicily,  5 ;  op 
poses  intervention,  14 ;  Canning's 
proposition  to  Kush,  14, 15  ;  views 
on  Monroe  Doctrine,  24,  49-54; 
the  Schomburgk  line,  39,  40; 
claims  in  Venezuela,  40-42 ; 
claims  to  North  America,  282,  283  ; 
expels  the  French,  287,  288. 

"  Hail  Columbia,"  169. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  delegate  from 
New  York  to  Constitutional  Con 
vention,  115 ;  plan  for  new  gov 
ernment,  125 ;  interpretation  ol 
the  United  States  Constitution, 
186;  his  "letters  of  Pacificus," 
189. 

Hartford  Convention,  198 ;  amend 
ments  offered  by,  198. 199. 

Hayne,  R.  Y.,  on  Hayti  and  the  Mon 
roe  Doctrine,  27. 

"Helvidius,  letters  of,"  by  Madison, 
189. 


Herald,  the  Pennsylvania,  sup 
pressed  by  the  Federalists,  74, 
75. 

Holmes,  of  Maine,  on  slavery  and 
the  Panama  Congress,  28. 

Holy  Alliance,  origin  of,  2 ;  purpose 
of,  2,  3  ;  powers  invited  to  join,  3  ; 
Metternich  on,  3;  Lord  Castle- 
reagh  on,  3,  4 ;  Great  Britain  de 
clines  to  enter,  4;  Spain  appeals 
to,  8 ;  Congress  at  Aix-la-Chapelle, 
8,  9;  at  Troppau,  11;  circular  of 
Troppau,  11,  12;  summon  Ferdi 
nand,  12 ;  meeting  at  Lay  bach,  12, 
13  ;  at  Vienna  and  Verona,  14. 

Holy  Allies :  who  they  were,  2-4 ; 
Great  Britain  declines  to  become 
one,  4 ;  Spain  appeals  to,  8 ;  Con 
gress  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  8,  9; 
Alexander  attempts  to  meddle  in 
affairs  of  Spain,  10 ;  the  meeting 
of  Troppau,  circular  from,  11, 12 ; 
summon  Ferdinand  to  Laybach, 
12;  meeting  at  Laybach,  12;  send 
troops  to  Naples,  12, 13;  Congress 
at  Laybach,  13 ;  Congress  at 
Vienna,  14 ;  at  Verona,  14 ;  send 
a  French  army  into  Spain,  14. 

"  Hoop  for  the  barrel,"  156. 

Immigration  :  arrivals  of  foreigners, 
93,  94,  97. 

Impeachment  of  justices  of  United 
States  Supreme  Court,  192, 193. 

Inauguration  of  the  Constitution, 
165  ;  of  John  Adams  in  1789,  166, 
167 ;  of  Washington,  173-178. 

Internal  improvements,  Congress  to 
engage  in,  200;  is  this  constitu 
tional,  202 ;  constitutional  amend 
ments  regarding,  205. 

Jackson,  Major  William,  112, 182. 
Jay,  John,  candidate  for  Governor 
of  New  York,  77;  defeated    by 


INDEX. 


329 


fraud,  77,  78 ;  struggle  with  Coun 
cil  of  Appointment,  80,  81. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  declines  a  third 
term,  60-62 ;  his  action  approved 
by  the  people,  62-64 ;  on  the  pow 
ers  of  Congress  under  the  Consti 
tution,  186, 187. 

Jones,  John  Paul,  267 ;  his  cruise, 
267  ;  gets  a  ship,  267,  268  ;  famous 
victory,  268. 

Judiciary,  the  United  States,  attack 
on,  187  ;  impeachments  of  Picker 
ing  and  Chase,  192 ;  on  removal 
of  United  States  judges,  192, 193 ; 
Pennsylvania's  contest  with,  193. 

King,  fear  that  the  Constitutional 
Convention  was  about  to  establish 
one,  118. 

Kentucky,  mania  for  banks  in,  241 ; 
Bank  of,  241;  "the  Litter,"  242; 
suspension  of  banks  in,  242,  244 ; 
tax  on  Bank  of  United  States,  243 ; 
animosity  toward  Bank  of  United 
States,  243,  244;  stay  law,  244, 
245 ;  replevin  law,  245 ;  Bank  of 
the  Commonwealth,  245,  246 ;  re 
plevin  act  not  constitutional,  246, 
247 ;  "  old  court "  and  "  new  court " 
parties,  247-249. 

Know-Nothings,  rise  of,  97,  98, 100  ; 
success  of,  100, 101 ;  principles  of, 
102;  success  of,  103;  National 
Convention,  104;  platform,  104 
105 ;  split  in  the  party,  105 ;  defeat 
and  decline  of,  105. 

Landais,  267-269. 

Labedoyere  executed,  6. 

Lafayette,  his  reception  in  France, 

266. 
Laybach,  Ferdinand  summoned  to, 

12;  Holy  Allies  at,  12, 13  ;  circular 

of,  12. 
Lee,  Arthur,  254,  260,  267. 


L'Enfant,  Major,  165. 

Liberalism,  reaction  against,  4,  5 ;  in 
Italy,  5  ;  in  Spain,  5 ;  -  arrest  of 
Liberal  leaders,  5;  perishes  in 
Spain,  5,  6 ;  in  France,  6  ;  in  Ger 
many,  6,  7 ;  in  Kussia,  7 ;  Spanish 
Constitution  restored,  9,  10;  the 
Carbonari  in  Naples,  10,  11;  a 
Junta  established  in  Portugal,  11 ; 
the  circular  of  Troppau,  11,  12; 
stamped  out  at  Naples,  12,  13; 
and  in  Spain,  14. 

Lloyd,  Thomas,  74,  75. 

Louisiana,  origin  of  name,  287 ;  boun 
dary  of,  287;  occupation  of,  2»7, 
288 ;  divided  between  England  and 
Spain,  287,  288 :  claims  of  United 
States  to,  288,  289 ;  part  acquired 
by  United  States,  289-291 ;  France 
eager  to  acquire  it  again,  294- 
296 ;  ceded  to  her  by  Spain,  296 ; 
bought  by  United  States,  296-300 ; 
no  boundary,  300,  301 ;  treaty  of 
1819,  301;  north  boundary,  301, 
302. 

Louisiana  purchase :  was  it  constitu 
tional  ?  194. 

Mace,  the,  expelled  from  Pennsylva 
nia  Assembly,  89. 

Madison,  James,  delegate  to  Consti 
tutional  Convention,  111;  Madi 
son's  notes,  118  ;  opposes  New  Jer 
sey  plan,  125;  proposes  amend 
ments  to  Constitution,  184;  his 
"  letters  of  Helvidius,"  189. 

"March, the  President's,"  first  played 
at  Trenton,  169,  170 ;  now  called 
"Hail  Columbia,"  169. 

Marquette,  discovery  of  the  Missis 
sippi,  285,  286. 

Maryland,  Senate  of,  on  third  term, 
63 ;  franchise  in,  73 ;  gerrymander 
in,  83,  84 ;  colonizing,  84. 

Massachusetts,  restrictions  on  voters 


330 


WITH  THE  FATHERS. 


and  office  holders,  72 ;  the  gerry 
mander  on,  81,  82;  delegates  to 
Constitutional  Convention,  115 ; 
manner  of  choosing  Presidential 
electors,  158  ;  proposes  a  constitu 
tional  amendment,  194,  195,  212; 
resists  u  Force  Act,"  196,  197; 
Governor  refuses  militia  to  United 
States  in  1812,  197;  calls  Hart 
ford  Convention,  198;  threatens 
nullification,  203;  answers  South 
Carolina,  204,  205. 

Maximilian  in  Mexico,  36,  37. 

McDuffie,  speech  of,  on  Oregon,  309. 

Metternich,  opinion  of  the  Holy  Al 
liance,  3 ;  character  of,  4,  5. 

Mexico,  Cass  and  Buchanan  on 
Monroe  Doctrine  applied  to,  33,  34; 
agreement  of  the  allies  as  to,  34, 
note ;  London  newspapers  on,  35  ; 
Seward  on,  35,  36 ;  House  of  Rep 
resentatives  on,  36 ;  Sheridan  on 
the  Eio  Grande,  36. 

"  Mint-drops,  Benton,"  231. 

Mint  established,  224 ;  free  coinage, 
224 ;  coins  made,  225 ;  supply  of 
bullion,  225;  work  of,  226,  227; 
opposition  to,  227. 

Mississippi  River,  discovery  and  ex 
ploration  of,  285-287 ;  shut  to  navi 
gation,  292,  293 ;  right  of  deposit, 
294. 

Mississippi  Valley  occupied  by 
French,  287,  288  ;  divided  between 
Spain  and  England,  287,  288  ;  ac 
quired  by  United  States,  288-292  ; 
part  ceded  by  Spain,  294-296 ;  part 
sold  to  United  States,  296-300. 

Money,  Congress  given  power  to  coin, 
222 ;  a  unit  chosen,  223  ;  a  mint  or 
dered,  224 ;  national  coinage  estab 
lished,  224-226 ;  bills  of  credit,  239  ; 
demand  for  "cheap  money,"  240, 
241 ;  "  cut-money,"  240 ;  bank  pa 
per  in  Kentucky,  242-249. 


Monroe  Doctrine,three  views  regard 
ing,  1 ;  origin  of,  1,  2 ;  the  Holy 
Alliance,  2,  3;  purpose  of  Holy 
Alliance,  3 ;  what  the  Holy  Allies 
did,  4-14 ;  Canning's  offer  to  Rush, 
15 ;  letters  sent  to  Jefferson  and 
Madison,  16  ;  answer  of  Jefferson, 

16,  17;    of    Madison,  17,   46-48; 
question  of    Russian   occupation, 
17-19  ;    three     questions     before 
the   Cabinet,  19 ;  Adams  on  col 
onization,  19,  20  ;  the  doctrine  an 
nounced,  21,  22 ;  meaning  of,  22 ; 
reception  of,   23 ;    Clay's    resolu 
tion,   23;    Clay's    instructions    to 
Poinsett,  23,   24;    London  news 
papers  on,  24,  49-54 ;  the  doctrine 
and  the  South  American  republics, 
27 ;    connection  of  slavery  with, 
27,   28;  resolution  of  the   House 
of  Representatives,  29;    Polk  on, 
in  1826,  30;   in  1845,30-32;   and 
in  1848,  32,  33 ;  Cass  and  Mexico, 
33 ;  Buchanan  and  Mexico,  33,  34 ; 
the  case  of  Mexico,  34-37 ;  report 
of  Secretary  Fish,  37, 38,  note ;  reso 
lution  offered   by  Crapo,  38;  by 
Burnside,  38;  Elaine's  view,  38; 
Salisbury's  view,  42,  44 ;  the  doc 
trine  explained,  45,  46. 

Monroe,  James,  announces  his  doc 
trine,  1,  2 ;  sends  letter  of  Rush  to 
Jefferson  and  Madison,  16 ;  answer 
of  Jefferson,  16,  17;  of  Madison, 

17,  46-48;  the  Russian  question, 
17, 19 ;  the  three  questions  before 
his  Cabinet,  19. 

Morris,  Gouverneur,  on  taxation  and 
representation,  133 ;  proposes  form 
for  signing  the  Constitution,  143, 
144. 

Naples,  kingdom  of:  the  Carbonari, 
10;  Ferdinand  forced  to  grant  a 
constitution  to,  11, 12;  Ferdinand 


INDEX. 


331 


summoned  to  Laybach,  11,  12; 
Austrian  troops  sent  to,  12, 13. 

Napoleon  III,  conduct  toward  Mex 
ico,  33-37. 

Napoleon  acquires  Louisiana,  295, 
296  ;  attempts  to  occupy,  296 ;  sells 
it  to  United  States,  297,  298. 

Neutrality,  Washington  proclaims, 
188;  Hamilton  and  Madison  dis 
cuss  the  constitutionality  of,  188, 
189. 

New  England  opposes  purchase  of 
Louisiana,  194, 195;  excitement  in, 
over*'  Force  Act "  of  1809, 196, 197 ; 
Governors  refuse  to  call  out  militia 
in  1812,  197,  198;  Hartford  Con 
vention,  198. 

New  Hampshire :  religious  restric 
tions  on  office  holders,  72;  dele 
gates  to  Constitutional  Convention, 
111 ;  contest  over  choice  of  Presi 
dential  electors,  158. 

New  Jersey,  early  franchise  in,  72 ; 
religious  restrictions  on  office  hold 
ers,  72 ;  Presidential  electors  stolen, 
82 ;  gerrymander  in,  83. 

New  York,  condition  of  franchise  in, 
72 ;  quarrel  over  choice  of  electors 
and  senators  in  1789,  75,  76 ;  casts 
no  vote  for  Washington,  76,  77; 
the  governorship  stolen,  1792,  77, 
78 ;  the  Council  of  Appointment, 
79 ;  struggle  for  control  of  it,  79- 
81 ;  spoils  system  in,  80,  81 ;  ger 
rymander  in,  83 ;  struggle  for  the 
Council  of  Appointment,  85,  86 ; 
delegates  to  Constitutional  Con 
vention,  115;  two  leave  the  Con 
vention,  115 ;  city  of  New  York  the 
first  capital  under  the  Constitu 
tion,  152;  casts  no  Presidential 
vote  in  1789, 161, 162. 

New  York  city,  chosen  to  he  the  first 
capital,  152;  description  of  Con 
gress  Hall,  152,  Congress  Hall  at, 


described,  164,  165;  inauguration 
of  the  Constitution  at,  165 ;  recep 
tion  of  Washington  at,  170-172 ; 
appearance  of  the  city,  172,  173 ; 
inauguration  of  Washington  at, 
173-178 ;  taken  by  the  British,  271- 
273 ;  evacuation  of,  by  British,  273- 
280. 

Ney,  Marshal,  shot,  6. 

"  North-Americans,"  105. 

North  Carolina,  property  qualifica 
tions  for  office  holding,  73. 

Nullification,  resolutions  of  Virginia 
and  Kentucky  in  1798,  189-191; 
Virginia  in  1810  declares  the  Unit 
ed  States  Supreme  Court  a  common 
arbiter,  193, 194;  Ohio  affirms  Vir 
ginia  and  Kentucky  resolutions, 
201 ;  New  York  threatens,  201 ; 
South  Carolina  threatens,  201,  202 ; 
Webster-Hayne  debates,  203 ; 
threatened  by  Massachusetts  and 
Maine,  203,  204;  South  Carolina 
nullifies,  204,  205. 

Ohio  affirms  the  Virginia  and  Ken 
tucky  resolutions,  201 ;  bank  ma 
nia,  250;  attack  on  the  Bank  of 
the  United  States,  250;  collects 
tax  by  force,  250 ;  suit  against,  250, 
251 ;  affirms  Virginia  and  Ken 
tucky  resolutions,  251 ;  outlaws 
the  Bank  of  the  United  States, 
251. 

Oregon,  our  claim  to,  302  ;  joint  oc 
cupation,  302;  dispute  with  Rus 
sia,  302,  303;  dispute  with  Eng 
land,  303-305 ;  Whitman's  mission 
to,  305-307  ;  Whitman's  ride,  307- 
309;  McDuffie  on,  309;  boundary 
settled,  309-311. 

Oregon  country,  Russian  claims  to, 
17-19;  Adams  on,  19,  20. 

Orleans  Territory  Legislature  on 
third  term,  63. 


332 


WITH  THE  FATHERS. 


"  Paciflcus,  letters  of,"  by  Hamilton, 
189. 

Panama  Congress :  the  invitation, 
25;  Clay  on,  25;  Adams's  message, 
26 ;  opposition  to,  26,  27 ;  connec 
tion  of  slavery  with,  27,  28 ;  reso 
lution  of  the  House  of  Representa 
tives,  29. 

Paterson,  William,  delegate  to  Con 
stitutional  Convention  from  New 
Jersey,  111 ;  opposes  Virginia  plan, 
121,  122;  introduces  New  Jersey 
plan,  123. 

Pennsylvania :  instance  of  filibuster 
ing  in  1787,  73,  74;  religious  re 
strictions  on  office  holders,  72 ;  de 
bates  of  Constitutional  Convention 
suppressed,  74,  75 ;  Assembly  ex 
pels  the  mace,  89 ;  delegates  to 
Constitutional  Convention,  115  ; 
choice  of  Presidential  electors,  158, 
159;  quarrel  with  United  States 
Supreme  Court,  193;  wants  a  con 
stitutional  amendment,  193. 

Petition,  violation  of  the  right  of,  209. 

Pfyles,  composer  of  the  air  of  "  Hail 
Columbia,"  169. 

Philadelphia,  Congress  driven  from, 
156 ;  reception  of  Washington  at, 
168, 169. 

Platforms,  national  party,  intro 
duced,  213,  214 ;  National  Repub 
lican,  213,  214 ;  Democratic,  214  ; 
Whig,  214. 

Poland,  Duchy  of  Warsaw  made 
Kingdom  of,  7. 

Polk,  James  K.,  on  the  Monroe  Doc 
trine  in  1826,  30 ;  and  in  1845,  30- 
32 ;  and  in  1848,  32,  33. 

Population  of  United  States  in  1789, 
178, 181. 

Portugal,  rise  of  liberalism  in,  11. 

President :  question  of  a  third  term, 
55-70 ;  manner  of  electing,  56,  57  ; 
debate  on  his  term  of  office,  57- 


59;  Washington  declines  a  third 
term,  60;  Jeiferson  declines,  60- 
62;  action  approved,  62-64;  at 
tempts  to  change  manner  of  elect 
ing,  64,  65 ;  plans  proposed  in  the 
Constitutional  Convention,  120, 
136 ;  name,  137  ;  time  for  choosing 
President,  152 ;  Washington  elect 
ed,  162;  attempts  to  change  the 
constitutional  manner  of  electing, 
191, 192  ;  the  twelfth  amendment, 
192 ;  to  be  chosen  by  lot,  200 ;  other 
methods  urged,  206-208. 

Prevost,  J.  B.,  17. 

Progress,  industrial  and  mechanical, 
since  1692,  318,  319;  since  1792, 
320,  321. 

Quadruple  treaty,  purpose  of,  4,  7,  8. 

Ramel,  General,  treatment  of,  6. 

Randolph,  John,  at  the  inauguration 
of  Adams,  167. 

Read,  George,  circular  letter  to,  from 
United  States  Senate,  116,  note. 

Refugees,  the  British,  in  New  York 
city,  273,  274;  prepare  to  leave, 
275;  begin  to  go,  275-277;  num 
ber  of,  277. 

Replevin,  indorsement  and  replevin 
law  in  Kentucky,  245 ;  not  consti 
tutional,  246-248;  contest  over, 
248,  249. 

Representation  in  the  House,  127, 
128;  origin  of  the  Senate,  128- 
130 ;  ratio  of,  130 ;  of  slaves,  130- 
134;  taxation  and  representation, 
133, 134;  ratio  changed,  144. 

Resolutions,  Virginia  and  Kentucky, 
of  1798-1799,  189,  190;  answer  of 
the  States,  190 ;  affirmed  by  Ohio, 
201. 

Rhode  Island  sends  no  delegates  to 
Constitutional  Convention,  111 ; 
feeling  against,  117. 


INDEX. 


333 


Riots,  anti-Catholic,  93;  Native- 
American,  96,  99,  100. 

Rush,  Richard,  Canning's  proposi 
tion  to,  14-16;  answer  of  Rush, 
15. 

Russia,  settlement  in  California,  17  ; 
edict  of  Emperor  Alexander,  18; 
discussion  of,  18,  19;  Adams  on, 
19,  20 ;  claims  part  of  Oregon,  302 ; 
"  Fifty-four  forty,"  303. 

Salisbury,  Lord,  effect  of  his  letter 
on  Monroe  Doctrine,  1 ;  on  the 
Venezuela  claims,  40-42,  44. 

San  Ildefonso,  treaty  of,  296. 

Schlegel,  Frederick,  effect  of  his  lec 
tures,  91,  92. 

Schomburgk,  Robert,  sketch  of,  39 ; 
his  famous  "  line,"  39,  40. 

Secession,  Buchanan  on,  218. 

Senate  of  the  United  States,  origin 
of,  128-130 ;  no  quorum  on  March 
4,  1789,  165,  166,  note;  debate  on 
manner  of  receiving  Washington, 
174, 175. 

Seward,  W.  H.,  on  Monroe  Doctrine 
and  Mexico,  35,  36. 

"  Sherman  Act,"  235,  236. 

Slaves,  representation  of,  130-133 ; 
taxation  and  importation  of,  138- 
141. 

Slavery,  connection  of,  with  Panama 
Congress,  27,  28 ;  Hayne  on,  27  ; 
White  on,  27,  28  ;  Holmes  on,  28  ; 
rise  of  the  abolition  movement, 
209;  violation  of  right  of  petition, 
209 ;  "  gag  rule,"  209 ;  power  of 
Congress  over,  210,  211 ;  consti 
tutional  amendment  regarding, 
211 ;  status  of,  in  the  Territories, 
215-219 ;  Free-soil  view,  215,  216 ; 
Democratic,  216,  217 ;  Republican, 
217,  218 ;  the  question  in  1860, 218- 
220. 

South  Carolina,  restrictions  on  voters 


and  office  holders,  72;  defies  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court,  201, 
202;  on  tariff  and  internal  im 
provements,  202,  203;  Webster- 
Hay  ne  debate,  203;  nullifies  the 
tariff,  204,  205. 

Spain,  Constitution  of,  destroyed,  5 ; 
absolutism  restored,  5,  6;  revolt 
of  her  American  colonies,  8 ;  ap 
peals  to  Holy  Allies  for  help,  8,  9 ; 
attempts  to  collect  an  army,  9; 
rebellion  in  and  demand  for  the 
Constitution,  9, 10 ;  Alexander  at 
tempts  to  meddle  in  affairs  of,  10 ; 
affairs  considered  at  Congress  of 
Verona,  14;  French  troops  sent  into, 
14;  her  early  claim  to  America, 
281 ;  the  Papal  Bulls,  281,  282 ;  ex 
plorations  along  the  coast,  282 ; 
dispute  with  England,  282,  283; 
treaty  with  England,  283  ;  receives 
part  of  Louisiana,  288;  disputes 
our  claim  to  Louisiana,  288-292; 
closes  the  Mississippi,  292,  293; 
cedes  Louisiana  to  France,  296; 
sells  Florida  to  United  States,  301. 

Spoils  system  introduced  into  New 
York,  79-81. 

"  Squatter  sovereignty,"  217. 

States,  third -term,  1807-1 809,  60-62. 

Stay  law,  Kentucky,  244,  245. 

Steamboat,  effect  of  the  use  of,  on 
Western  waters  in  1816,  240. 

Strahan,  Franklin's  letter  to,  270. 

Talleyrand  eager  to  acquire  Louisi 
ana,  294-296. 

Tammany  Society  of  Philadelphia 
on  third  term,  63,  64. 

Tariffs  of  1824  and  1828,  excitement 
over,  in  the  South,  202,  203 ;  nulli 
fied  by  South  Carolina,  204,  205. 

Term,  question  of  a  third,  for  the 
President,  55-60 ;  Washington  de 
clines  a  third  term,  60;  Jefferson 


334 


WITH  THE  FATHERS. 


offered  a  third  term,  60,  61 ;  de 
clines,  61 ;  States  approve,  62-64 ; 
the  question  in  1823,  64,  65,  207, 
208;  Jackson  on,  66,  208;  the 
question  in  1844,  66 ;  in  Grant's 
time,  67-69. 

Territories,  status  of  slavery  in,  215- 
217;  Free-soil  view,  215,  216; 
Democratic  view,  216,  217 ;  He- 
publican,  217,  218. 

Texas,  acquisition  of,  311,  312;  an 
nexation  of,  215. 

Titles  of  honor,  proposed  constitu 
tional  amendment  regarding,  199 ; 
once  thought  adopted,  199. 

Thomson,  Charles,  166. 

Treaties,  power  of  the  House  of  Rep 
resentatives  over,  189. 

Trenton,  reception  of  Washington 
at,  169, 170. 

Troppau,  meeting  of  the  allies  at,  11 ; 
circular  of,  11, 12. 

Tyler,  John,  his  vetoes  and  quarrel 
with  the  Whigs,  212,  213. 

United  States,  area  of,  in  1789, 178, 
180 ;  boundary  of,  178, 179  ;  popu 
lation  of,  180,  181;  frontier,  180, 
316;  Spaniards  in,  282,  294,  296, 
301 ;  French  in,  285-288,  296-300  ; 
.Oregon,  302, 303  ;  early  settlement 
of,  314,  315 ;  condition  of,  in  1692, 
315-317 ;  life  in,  317,  318 ;  progress 
since  1692,  318-319;  state  of,  in 
1792,  319,  320 ;  progress  since,  320, 
321. 

Venezuela,  the  Schomburgk  line,  39, 
40  ;  British  claims  to,  39-42. 

Verona,  Congress  of  Holy  Allies  at, 
14. 

Veto,  attempt  to  limit,  213. 

Vice-President,  the  twelfth  amend 
ment  to  the  Constitution  regard 


ing,  192;  proposal  to  abolish  office 
of,  200. 

Vienna,  Congress  of  Holy  Allies  at, 
14. 

Virginia,  delegates  to  the  Constitu 
tional  Convention,  111 ;  Virginia 
plan,  119;  contrasted  with  New 
Jersey  plan,  125;  adopted,  126; 
urges  amendments  to  the  Constitu 
tion,  183, 184 ;  resolutions  of  1798, 
189-191;  United  States  Supreme 
Court  a  common  arbiter,  193. 

Voters,  qualification  of,  in  old  times, 
72;  in  New  England,  New  York, 
New  Jersey,  Maryland,  South 
Carolina,  72;  colonization  of,  in 
Maryland,  84. 

Warsaw,  Duchy  of,  made  Kingdom 
of  Poland,  7. 

Washington,  George,  declines  a  third 
term,  60;  chosen  President,  162; no 
tified  of  election,  166 ;  ovations  on 
his  way  to  New  York,  167-173 ;  at 
Alexandria  and  Baltimore,  167 ;  at 
Philadelphia,  168, 169  ;  at  Trenton, 
169, 170  ;  at  New  York  city,  170- 
173 ;  inauguration  of,  173-178 ;  de 
fence  of  New  York  city,  271,  272; 
re-enters  New  York,  279,  280. 

Whigs,  constitutional  amendments 
proposed  by,  210,  213  ;  first  party 
platform,  214. 

White,  on  slavery  and  the  Monroe 
Doctrine,  27,  28. 

Whitman,  Marcus,  mission  to  Ore 
gon,  305-307 ;  his  ride  to  Wash 
ington,  307,  308. 

Wickes,  Lambert,  257. 

"  Yellow- boys,  Jackson,"  231. 
Yucatan,  Polk  applies  Monroe  Doc 
trine  to,  32,  33. 


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artist  we  can  all  appreciate,  the  charm  of  his  style  being  self-evident." — Philadelphia 
Telegraph. 

"  The  third  volume  contains  the  brilliantly  written  and  fascinating  story  of  the  prog 
ress  and  doings  of  the  people  of  this  country  from  the  era  of  the  Louisiana  purchase 
to  the  opening  scenes  of  the  second  war  with  Great  Britain — say  a  period  of  ten  years. 
In  every  page  of  the  book  the  reader  finds  that  fascinating  flow  of  narrative,  that 
clear  and  lucid  style,  and  that  penetrating  power  of  thought  and  judgment  which  dis 
tinguished  the  previous  volumes." — Columbus  State  Journal. 

"  Prof.  McMaster  has  more  than  fulfilled  the  promises  made  in  his  first  volumes, 
and  his  work  is  constantly  growing  better  and  more  valuable  as  he  brings  it  nearer 
to  our  own  time.  His  style  is  clear,  simple,  and  idiomatic,  and  there  is  just  enough 
of  the  critical  spirit  in  the  narrative  to  guide  the  reader." — Boston  Herald. 

"Take  it  all  in  all,  the  History  promises  to  be  the  ideal  American  history.  Not  so 
much  given  to  dates  and  battles  and  great  events  as  in  the  fact  that  it  is  like  a  great 
panorama  of  the  people,  revealing  their  inner  life  and  action.  It  contains,  with  all  its 
sober  facts,  the  spice  of  personalities  and  incidents,  which  relieves  every  page  from 
dullness." — Chicago  Inter-Ocean. 

"  History  written  in  this  picturesque  style  will  tempt  the  most  heedless  to  read. 
Prof.  McMaster  is  more  than  a  stylist;  he  is  a  student,  and  his  History  abounds  in 
evidences  of  research  in  quarters  not  before  discovered  by  the  historian." — Chicago 
Tribune. 

"A  History  siti  generis  which  has  made  and  will  keep  its  own  place  in  our  litera 
ture." — New  York  Evening  Post. 

"His  style  is  vigorous  and  his  treatment  candid  and  impartial." — New  York 
Tribune. 


New  York  :  D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  72  Fifth  Avenue. 


A 


D.  APPLETON  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 
NAVY,  from  1775  to  1894.  By  EDGAR  STANTON  MACLAY, 
A.  M.  With  Technical  Revision  by  Lieut.  ROY  C.  SMITH, 
U.  S.  N.  In  two  volumes.  With  numerous  Maps,  Diagrams, 
and  Illustrations.  8vo.  Cloth.  $7.00. 

"  The  field  is  comparatively  new,  and  Mr.  Maclay  has  brought  to  his  task  patience, 
assiduity,  and  patriotism.  .  .  .  Maps  and  plans,  and  a  great  number  of  illustrations, 
add  value  to  the  book,  which  is  designed  to  be  a  permanent  and  uselul  contribution  to 
historical  literature." — New  York  observer. 

"  While  the  author  has  had  the   assistance  of  Lieut.  Roy  C.  Smith,  U.  S.  N.,  in 
preparing  those  parts  of  his  work    which  are   necessarily  technical,  he  has  wisely  re 
frained  from  confusing  the  general   reader  by  an   undue  parade  of  technicalities.  . 
The  narrative  proceeds  in  a  clear,    concise,    and   vigorous  style,  which  very  materially 
adds  to  the  character  of  the  work."  — New   York   "Journal  oj  Commence. 

"  The  author  writes  as  one  who  has  digged  deep  before  he  began  to  write  at  all. 
He  thus  appears  as  a  master  of  his  material.  This  book  inspires  immediate  confidence 
as  well  as  interest." — New  York  Times. 

"  A  most  conscientious  narrative,  from  which  wise  statesmen  may  learn  much  for 
their  guidance,  and  it  certainly  is  one  of  absorbing  interest." — New  York  Commercial 
A  dvertiser. 

"  Mr.  Maclay  is  specially  qualified  for  the  work  he  has  undertaken.  Nine  years 
has  he  devoted  to  the  task.  The  result  of  his  labors  possesses  not  only  readableness 
but  authority.  .  .  .  Mr.  Maclay's  story  may  be  truthfully  characterized  as  a  thrilling 
romance,  which  will  interest  every  mind  that  is  fed  by  tales  of  heroism,  and  will  be  read 
with  patriotic  pride  by  every  true  American. "  —  Chicago  Evening  Post. 

"  A  more  valuable  and  important  work  of  history  than  this  has  not  been  issued  from 
the  press  for  many  a  day.  It  is  not  only  that  this  book  tells  a  story  never  before  told 
(for  Cooper's  works  never  professed  to  tell  the  whole  story  of  our  navy,  even  down  to 
his  own  day),  but  that  it  is  told  with  true  historic  sense,  and  with  the  finest  critical  acu 
men." — New  York  Evangelist. 

"  A  work  which  is  destined  to  fill  a  noticeable  gap  in  our  national  annals.1' — Phila 
delphia  Bulletin. 

"  No  better  excuse  for  this  important  work  could  be  desired  than  that  a  navy  with 
such  a  brilliant  career  on  the  whole  as  has  the  American  navy  is  without  a  full  and  con 
tinuous  record  of  its  achievement.  .  .  .  The  author  has  important  new  facts  to  tell, 
and  he  tells  them  in  a  clear  and  graceful  literary  style."—  H artford  Post. 

"  Mr.  Maclay  has  deservedly  won  for  himself  an  enviable  place  among  our  Amer 
ican  historians.  .  .  .  His  researches  have  been  exhaustive  and  his  inquiries  persistent, 
and  he  has  used  his  wealth  of  material  with  a  proper  appreciation  of  historical  value." 
— Boston  Advertiser. 

"  Like  the  average  young  American,  this  author  has  an  enthusiastic  appreciation  of 
Amencan  valor  on  the  high  seas,  and  he  reproduces  graphic  sketches  of  battle  scenes 
and  incidents  in  a  way  to  insure  for  his  book  a  hearty  welcome  on  the  part  of  those 
who  keenly  enjoy  this  sort  of  literature.  .  .  .  The  illustrations  of  the  old  battle  ships 
and  the  conflicts  at  sea,  made  memorable  as  long  as  the  history  of  the  American 
Republic  shall  live,  add  much  to  the  attractiveness  of  this  book.  .  .  .  Professor  Maclay 
has  added  a  substantial  work  to  historical  American  literature. " — Philadelphia  Tele 
graph. 

"  It  fills  a  place  which  has  almost  escaped  the  attention  of  historians.  Mr.  Maclay*9 
work  shows  on  every  page  the  minute  care  with  which  he  worked  up  his  theme.  His 
style  is  precise  and  clear,  and  without  any  pretense  of  rhetorical  embellishment." — 
New  York  Tribune. 


New  York :  D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  72  Fifth  Avenue. 


D.  APPLETON  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 


UNITED    STATES    OF   AMERICA.     A 

Study  of  the  American  Commonwealth,  its  Natural  Resources, 
People,  Industries,  Manufactures,  Commerce,  and  its  Work  in 
Literature,  Science,  Education,  and  Self-Government.  Edited 
by  NATHANIEL  S.  SHALER,  S.  D.,  Professor  of  Geology  in  Har 
vard  University.  In  two  volumes,  royal  8vo.  With  Maps,  and 
150  full-page  Illustrations.  Cloth,  $10.00. 

In  this  work  the  publishers  offer  something  which  is  not  furnished  by 
histories  or  encyclopaedias,  namely,  a  succinct  but  comprehensive  expert 
account  of  our  country  at  the  present  day.  The  very  extent  of  America  and 
American  industries  renders  it  difficult  to  appreciate  the  true  meaning  of  the 
United  States  of  America.  In  this  work  the  American  citizen  can  survey  the 
land  upon  which  he  lives,  and  the  industrial,  social,  political,  and  other 
environments  of  himself  and  his  fellow-citizens.  The  best  knowledge  and 
the  best  efforts  of  experts,  editor,  and  publishers  have  gone  to  the  preparation 
of  a  standard  book  dedicated  to  the  America  of  the  present  day  ;  and  the 
publishers  believe  that  these  efforts  will  be  appreciated  by  those  who  desire 
to  inform  themselves  regarding  the  America  of  the  end  of  the  century. 

LIST  OF  CONTRIBUTORS. 

HON.  WILLIAM   L.  WILSON,   Chairman    of  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee, 

Fifty-third  Congress. 

HON.  J.  R.  SOLEY,  formerly  Assistant   Secretary  of  the  Navy. 
EDWARD  ATKINSON,  LL.  D  ,  PH.D. 
COL.  T.  A.  DODGE,  U.  S.  A. 
COL.  GEORGE  E.  WARING,  JR. 

J.  B.  McM  ASTER,  Professor  of  History  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 
CHARLES  DUDLEY   WARNER,  LL  D. 
MAJOR  J.  W.  POWELL,  Director  of  the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey  and  the  Bureau  of 

Ethnology. 

WILLIAM  T.  HARRIS,  LL.  D.,  U.  S.  Commissioner  of  Education. 
LYMAN   ABBOTT,  D.  D. 

H.  H.  BANCROFT,  author  of  "Native  Races  of  the  Pacific  Coast." 
HARRY  PRATT  JUDSON,  Head  Dean  of  the  Colleges,  University  of  Chicago. 
JUDGE  THOMAS  M.  COOLEY,  formerly  Chairman   of  the   Interstate  Commerce 

Commission. 

CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS. 
D.  A.  SARGENT,  M.  D.,  Director  of  the  Hemenway  Gymnasium,  Harvard  Uni 

versity. 

CHARLES  HORTON  COOLEY. 
A.  E.  KENNELLY,  Assistant  to  Thomas  A.  Edison. 
D.  C.  GILMAN,  LL.D.,  President  of  Johns  Hopkins  University. 
H.  G.  PROUT,  Editor  of  the  Railroad  Gazette. 

F.  D.  MILLET,  formerly  Vice-President  of  the  National  Academy  of  Design. 
F.  W.  TAUSSIG,  Professor  of  Political  Economy  in  Harvard  University. 
HENRY  VAN   BRUNT. 
H.  P.  FAIR  FIELD. 
SAMUEL  W.  ABBOTT,  M.  D.,  Secretary  of  the  State  Board  of  Health,  Massa- 

chusetts. 

N.  S.  SHALER. 

Sold  only  by  subscription.     Prospectus,  giving  detailed  chapter-titles  and 
specimen  illustrations,  mailed  free  on  request. 


New  York :  D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  72  Fifth  Avenue. 


D.   APPLETON  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

THE   STORY   OF  THE   WEST   SERIES. 

EDITED  BY  RIPLEY  HITCHCOCK. 

"There  is  a  vast  extent  of  territory  lying  between  the  Missouri  River  and  the  Pacific 
coast  which  has  barely  been  skimmed  over  so  far.  That  the  conditions  of  life  therein 
are  undergoing  changes  little  short  of  marvelous  will  be  understood  when  one  recalls 
the  fact  that  the  first  white  male  child  born  in  Kansas  is  still  living  there ;  and  Kansas 
is  by  no  means  one  of  the  newer  States.  Revolutionary  indeed  has  been  the  upturning 
of  the  old  condition  of  affairs,  and  little  remains  thereof,  and  less  will  remain  as  each 
year  goes  by,  until  presently  there  will  be  only  tradition  of  the  Sioux  and  Comanches, 
the  cowboy  life,  the  wild  horse,  and  the  antelope.  Histories,  many  of  them,  have  been 
written  about  the  Western  country  alluded  to,  but  most  if  not  practically  all  by  outsiders 
who  knew  not  personally  that  life  of  kaleidoscopic  allurement.  But  ere  it  shall  have 
vanished  forever  we  are  likely  to  have  truthful,  complete,  and  charming  portrayals  of 
it  produced  by  men  who  actually  know  the  life  and  have  the  power  to  describe  it." — 
Henry  Edward  Rood,  in  The  Mail  and  Express, 

NOW  READY. 

*1THE  STOR  Y  OF  THE  INDIAN.     By   GEORGE 
•*•        BIRD  GRINNELL,  author  of  "  Pawnee  Hero  Stories,"  "  Blackfoot 
Lodge  Tales,"  etc.     I2mo.     Cloth.     Illustrated.    $1.50. 

"  A  valuable  study  of  Indian  life  and  character.  .  .  .  An  attractive  book,  ...  in 
large  part  one  in  which  Indians  themselves  might  have  written."— New  York  Tribune. 

"Among  the  various  books  respecting  the  aborigines  of  America,  Mr.  Grinnell's 
easily  takes  a  leading  position.  He  takes  the  reader  directly  to  the  camp-fire  and  the 
council,  and  shows  us  the  American  Indian  as  he  really  is.  ...  A  book  which  will 
convey  much  interesting  knowledge  respecting  a  race  which  is  now  fast  passing  away." 
— Boston  Commercial  Bulletin. 

"It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  volume  is  one  only  for  scholars  and  libraries  of 
reference.  It  is  far  more  than  that.  While  it  is  a  true  story,  yet  it  is  a  story  none  the 
less  abounding  in  picturesque  description  and  charming  anecdote.  We  regard  it  as  a 
valuable  contribution  to  American  literature." — N.  Y.  Mail  and  Express. 

"A  most  attractive  book,  which  presents  an  admirable  graphic  picture  of  the  actual 
Indian,  whose  home  life,  religious  observances,  amusements,  together  with  the  various 
phases  of  his  devotion  to  war  and  the  chase,  and  finally  the  effects  of  encroaching  civ 
ilization,  are  delineated  with  a  certainty  and  an  absence  of  sentimentalism  or  hostile 
prejudice  that  impart  a  peculiar  distinction  to  this  eloquent  story  of  a  passing  life." — 
Buffalo  Commercial. 

"  No  man  is  better  qualified  than  Mr.  Grinnell  to  introduce  this  series  with  the  story 
of  the  original  owner  of  the  West,  the  North  American  Indian.  Long  acquaintance 
and  association  with  the  Indians,  and  membership  in  a  tribe,  combined  with  a  high 
degree  of  literary  ability  and  thorough  education,  has  fitted  the  author  to  understand 
the  red  man  and  to  present  him  fairly  to  others." — New  York  Observer. 

IN  PREPARATION. 

The  Story  of  the  Mine.    By  CHARLES  HOWARD  SHINN. 
The  Story  of  the  Trapper.     By  GILBERT  PARKER. 
The  Story  of  the  Explorer. 
The  Story  of  the  Cowboy. 
The  Story  of  the  Soldier. 
The  Story  of  the  Railroad. 


New  York  :  D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  72  Fifth  Avenue. 


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DAY  AND  TO  $1.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
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Book  Slip-10m-8,'51(6813s4)458 


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